


Annual Camp Tinkota Camp-Wide Camper’s Challenge

by suewritesthings



Series: Camp Tinkota Counselor AU [1]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Camp Counselor AU, College AU, Eventual Smut, Friendly competition, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Kink Negotiation, Light BDSM, M/M, Mentions of Panic Attacks, Mutual Masturbation, Past Abuse, dominant tyler, genderpunk!josh, jenna and debby find this hilarious, josh is an anxious ball of fluff, lots of fluff, mentions of past physical abuse, skeleboyfriends, small children being obnoxious and adorable, totally an au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:19:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 23,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4036588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suewritesthings/pseuds/suewritesthings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off this AU prompt: we’re both ‘team leaders’ at a summer camp for little people and you may be hot but goddammit my collection of twelve-year-olds are going to beat yours into the dust.</p><p>Tyler has won the Annual Camp Tinkota Camp-Wide Camper's Challenge with his cabin of boys for the past three years, but this summer new counselor Josh seems intent on taking the prize, and, well, Tyler can't have that, can he? Featuring Jenna and Debby as counselors of a girl's camp who run a betting pool, Mark as beleaguered best friend, and lots of OC small children who make life interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Make New Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at summaries! First chapters are hard for me. Thanks to my bff for the beta.

Tyler grinned as he glanced out over the grounds of Camp Tinkota in front of him, lake stretching out around the grounds, the cabins nestled into the woods and near the water. The small beach where they’d had campfires every Wednesday and Friday night for every summer he’d been here, the small cluster of buildings where kids did their activities, planned the end of the summer bash, hung out during free time, the smattering of buildings across the lake where his best friend, Jenna, was currently standing and waving at him frantically. Tyler raised one hand in return, and laughed as Jenna did a little dance in a circle, shaking her hips and waving her arms around. Yeah, he thought, hefting his duffel over his shoulder and heading for counselor’s quarters, it was good to be back.

He’d been a camper at Camp Tinkota when he was younger, every year from ages seven to seventeen, and then had come back over the past three summers as a counselor, loving watching the younger kids he’d grown up with continue to do so, enjoying seeing the friends he’d made every summer come back and bond together again like they hadn’t been apart for nine months. He liked everything about the place--the pine trees oozing sap when it got too hot, the tiny beach barely big enough for all the campers to gather at once, the weird way the arts building always smelled like mint, and the fact that his campers had won the Annual Camp Tinkota Camp-Wide Camper’s Challenge three years running. Glancing over at Cardinal Cabin, his home for the next three months, his grin widened. Oh, yeah, he thought again, it was definitely good to be back. 

Stepping into the counselor’s quarters, he shot a quick wave at Jordan, their sports guy, before heading over to Mark, in charge of all things arts and crafts, and the one real, lasting friendship Tyler had made over the years at camp (Jenna didn’t count, since he’d known her since they were kids). Sure, he thought, settling in the chair next to Mark and stealing one of his earbuds, raising an eyebrow when Kanye blasted through the speakers at him, he’d made other friends, but he and Mark had actually kept in contact, had actually spent time together after camp was over. And had then roomed together for the past two years at Ohio State. Mark handed over the iPod when Tyler made grabby hands at it and rolled his eyes when the music changed to James Taylor, snatching his earbud back from Tyler.

“If you’re going to invade my space and steal my music, at least choose something other than this, Ty, I’m begging you,” he said, wrapping the headphones around the iPod and dropping it in his bag. “I get enough of that crap at school.”

Tyler just grinned and bumped Mark’s shoulder with his, stretching out his legs so they were on top of his friend’s. “You know the past two weeks without me have been miserable,” he said, poking Mark in the nose and laughing when Mark swatted his hand away, mumbling something about how obnoxious Tyler got when he was excited about something and no he certainly did NOT miss him, thanks.

Comfortable in the silence (one of the many reasons he and Mark were good friends, Tyler thought), he let his gaze wander around the room, hailing old faces as they traipsed in one by one, recognizing everyone from previous years--hell, half of them had come back, as he had, to be counselors over the summer. The others were counselors he’d had as a kid, which made competing against them even more fun.

But right as Jake, who ran the camp, and his wife, Joanna, who ran the girls’ camp, stepped up to begin, the door swung open and a new guy walked in. Tyler straightened as he stepped inside, running one hand through a blue mohawk almost shyly, smile sheepish. 

“Uh...hi,” he said, voice pleasant, sounding amused with himself. “Sorry I’m late, I’ll just….” he gestured to a free chair while Jake smiled at him, assuring him he was right on time. Tyler yanked his phone out of his pocket, stealing glances at the newcomer and noticing the swirls of color on one forearm. Jake began his usual speech, and Tyler angled his phone, snapping a photo of the new guy while Mark frowned and poked his leg. Tyler swatted at his hand and sent the photo to Jenna, captioning it just _?????? new guy?????_

His phone buzzed a minute later. _never seen him but he’s super cute._

Tyler rolled his eyes and shoved his phone back in his pocket, keeping one guy on the new kid as Jake and Joanna went over the usual spiel. When everyone went around the room introducing themselves, Tyler didn’t even pay attention until it was new kid’s turn to speak, and he stood, giving Tyler a glimpse of what looked like a forest on his arm.

“Hey,” he said, smiling in such a genuinely endearing way Tyler found himself smiling back. “I’m Josh. New here, obviously,” he said, laughing a little and fiddling with the hem of his shirt, shifting his weight slightly. “I’m a music major at Xavier and this is my first summer here. As a counselor, that is,” he amended. “I was here once when I was like ten, and I really liked it, so I thought I’d apply. I was at Camp Akowa the last couple of years.” He paused for a moment, then shrugged slightly and sat down, still fidgeting with his shirt. Tyler kept glancing over, and when Josh looked over and met his eyes, Tyler smiled brightly and flashed him a thumbs-up. Josh blushed and looked down. Interesting, Tyler thought.

When it was his turn, he didn’t bother standing, just waved. “I’m Tyler,” he said, rolling his eyes when people exclaimed in mock-surprise. “I’m a music major at Ohio State and defending champ of the Annual Camp Tinkota Camp-Wide Camper’s Challenge.” Mark whooped loudly from where he was still trapped under Tyler’s legs, and there was a small scatter of applause, some boos, and a lot of laughter. “Prepare yourselves this year, boys,” he said, grinning. “I’m aiming for four in a row.” 

The rest of the meeting passed uneventfully, and Tyler bounded up from his seat as soon as they were dismissed, given the evening to unpack and settle in before campers arrived the next morning. He caught the new kid--Josh--on his way out the door.

“Hey,” he said, smiling and holding out a hand. “Tyler Joseph.”

Josh laughed, the action making his eyes crinkle adorably at the edges. “Yeah, I got that. Josh Dun,” he said, shaking Tyler’s hand firmly. Tyler gestured to his arm.

“Nice ink,” he said, looking back at Josh’s eyes. Man, did he have great eyes. “Colorful.”

“Yeah, well,” Josh said, almost sheepish, tugging at his bright blue hair. “I don’t really do things...minimally.” Tyler laughed, hefting his bag more firmly over his shoulder.

“Some people aren’t meant to,” he said, falling into step as they moved out into the pre-chill of the evening. “Which cabin have you got?”

“Uh...Blue Jay,” Josh said, after glancing at a scribble on his hand, and Tyler raised one eyebrow.

“They’re a handful, usually,” he said, skirting around some benches near the craft tables. “Last year there was a kid named Asher in that cabin….beware of Asher.”

Josh laughed again, and Tyler smiled at him, the joy in the sound infectious. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, stopping at the door to Blue Jay. “But they’re going to have to get used to being whipped into shape if we’re going to win.”

“I’m sorry, win…?” Tyler asked, shifting his stance slightly as Josh stepped towards his cabin door. “OH. You mean win the Annual Camp Tinkota Camp-Wide Camper’s Challenge?” He grinned at Josh. “It’s your first year and you’re going to take on the three-time champ? And you’re already warning me about it?” He placed one hand over his heart, mock hurt. “And here I thought we could be friends.”

Josh simply smiled at him. “Oh, I’m sure we can be friends,” he said, voice catching slightly on the word and Tyler felt something tug at the base of his navel. “I just wanted to be upfront about my intention to crush your dream of four years running.” Tyler’s eyes widened and he laughed, not able to help himself.

“Okay, Josh Dun,” he said, holding out a hand. “Challenge accepted. But just know,” he added as Josh gripped his hand again and Tyler tightened his fingers, holding Josh in place, “my campers are going to wipe the dirt with yours.”

Josh squeezed Tyler’s fingers in return and leaned in, just slightly. “We’ll see about that,” he said, dropping Tyler’s hand and flashing him one last smile, all dimples and crinkled eyes, before stepping inside his cabin.

Tyler pressed suddenly sweaty palms against his jeans. Well, he thought. Damn. Competition he could deal with, but hot competition? At least the summer wouldn’t be boring.


	2. But Keep the Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But Tyler had been there every year, he’d said, so how would he remember one kid from ten years before? One weird, slightly socially awkward kid who now sported blue hair and too much color on his arm because seeing it helped him calm down?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Josh's POV this time! Cue ridiculousness.

Josh wandered around the campground, getting a feel for things. He barely remembered the place--after all, he’d only been there once, and that had been almost eleven years before, but what he did remember more than the buildings and the layout was the sensation. He’d moved a lot as a kid, and so had spent various summers at various camps but this had been the one that had left an impression. He had memories of the campfires, the minty-smelling arts building, sneaking over the lake with the older kids to the girls’ camp where then all they did was stay up on the beach building sandcastles because the counselors trusted them enough not to do anything stupid.

He remembered feeling really comfortable in his bunk at night, surrounded by other guys his age who stayed up too late telling stupid stories and then raced each other to the canoes on sports day, who snickered as they built little houses out of popsicle sticks instead of whatever it was they were SUPPOSED to be building. He remembered the Camper’s Challenge, because he remembered winning it with one lanky, skinny, slightly shy, overly-enthusiastic Tyler Joseph.

And he remembered, painfully, the really awkward crush he’d had on the other boy. Age ten, braces, hair too long and curling into his eyes, shyly watching Tyler hang out with Mark and the other guys he’d known for three years while Josh quietly went about his business, making friends in his own way, fidgeting a little too much and not talking quite enough to blend in very well. But that had been fine with him, because eventually the other boys in his cabin had come around and he’d made friends--but he’d always been a little to shy to talk to Tyler.

And then he’d walked in earlier that afternoon, and bam--there he’d been, still a little lanky, still a little skinny, still tan skin and mussed hair and eyes that just drew a person in. And Josh had totally lost the clever remark he was going to make, had just been slammed in the stomach with _oh hey, yeah, it’s you, you were my first real crush and now here you are, hotter than you were ten years ago and this is going to be interesting_. 

He’d settled down mostly, during the meeting but had almost blown it when Tyler grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up, because that grin had just become more attractive the older Tyler got, and this was definitely embarrassing, yep. His only consolation was that Tyler didn’t seem to remember him, which was both comforting and oddly not--but he supposed he hadn’t really done anything to be memorable, aside from be on the winning team that year, in the same cabin as Tyler. But Tyler had been there every year, he’d said, so how would he remember one kid from ten years before? One weird, slightly socially awkward kid who now sported blue hair and too much color on his arm because seeing it helped him calm down?

Stepping into the mess hall, Josh stuffed his hands into his pockets and glanced around, wandering towards the far wall, where the photos of the winning cabins from the twenty-eight years of the camp’s existence were displayed, and he scanned the wall until he found Goldfinch Cabin, 2005: and there he was, sitting cross-legged in the front, grinning his crooked smile, other boys in the photo all cheering. He smiled a little at the memory, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning to head out of the mess hall. 

He’d heard about Tyler’s competitive spirit from his friend Debby, who worked at the camp across the lake. And he was pretty sure his own could match. He’d meant it when he’d said he and Tyler could be friends, but he was going to be lying to himself if he didn’t hope it couldn’t maybe be more.

\--------

He was standing on the beach a few hours later watching the bonfire after dinner and re-introductions, arguing with some guy named Dan about music (because, honestly, who thought Taylor Swift was more influential than Celine Dion?), and trying to avoid fidgeting too much while people were talking to him when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped slightly, not expecting company.

“Hey, sorry,” Tyler laughed, holding up his hands. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” His smile was loose, lazy, and his stance relaxed, tucking his thumbs into his back pockets as he tilted his head at Josh, who shook his head, tugging on his hair.

“No, it’s okay,” he said, smiling slightly. “I just wasn’t expecting company.”

“No problem. I did come up kind of quiet,” Tyler said, shifting his weight slightly so he was more in Josh’s space. “I know this is cool and all, but I’ve come to invite you to the _real_ party.” His grin widened, and Josh felt his stomach hitch a little. Tyler raised one eyebrow as he turned, jerking his head for Josh to follow.

“Real party, huh?” Josh finally asked, clearing his throat. Tyler just looked back over his shoulder as he sauntered away. 

“You’ll see.”

Josh stayed where he was for a moment, then took a deep breath and followed, quickening his pace to match Tyler’s. Tyler bumped his shoulder against Josh’s. “Trust me. This is the correct way to open every summer on the lake.”


	3. Are We Growing Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Who’re you bunking with?” he said, tone not hurt, just curious. For all that Brendon could be annoying, Tyler had to appreciate that he was pretty much the most easygoing person ever and was rarely offended. So he just grinned widely and hit the bottom of Brendon’s foot as he walked past.
> 
> “New guy. Blue hair.” Brendon’s mouth fell open and Tyler caught the tail end of him yelling about how unfair that was before he laughed and left the cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter titles are hard for me SO SORRY ABOUT THAT. Have some Jenna and Debby interactions!

Tyler hadn’t been expecting anyone new this summer. He’d been expecting it to be the same band of counselors, the same people he’d been working with for the last three years--some of the same people he’d been a camper under, even, although most of them had long since retired and he and his peers had taken over. He hadn’t been expecting anyone new to come in, which wasn’t a bad thing, not by a long shot. New blood always made things interesting, and he swore if he had to spend one more summer bunking below Brendon he was going to hit something because seriously the kid never stopped _moving_ , but he hadn’t been expecting Josh.

Although he wasn’t sure anyone had been, because he’d also seen Brendon’s eyes latch onto the blue hair, which made Tyler feel stupidly jealous in a way he wasn’t even sure he was allowed to feel because, hello, new guy, maybe not even gay, obviously a little out of his element. But he’d gone out of his way to walk Josh to Blue Jay, had watched as Mark had loped over shortly after to say hello, had then watched Brendon jitter his way over and begin babbling about god only knew what before he himself had to go unpack his things. 

The counselors had the option of sleeping with their campers or in the counselor’s bunks, and most of them chose the latter, just to give the kids some sense of privacy. Tyler left some of his things in Cardinal Cabin, sure, basics in case he needed to change or something since the cabins were closer to the campground than counselor’s quarters, but everything else he left at his bunk. So he’d dropped off what he didn’t need to keep with him and wandered over to counselor’s quarters, catching a glimpse of blue hair leaving, heading towards the mess hall. Quickening his pace, he shoved into the cabin and peered around before casually strolling over to the bunks and looking at the names on the two bags he didn’t recognize: one was Dan’s, he must have gotten new luggage, and the other was Josh’s. Tyler grinned--Josh had put his things on a top bunk, and it was just his luck that the bottom bunk was empty. Dumping his things onto the bed, Tyler shoved his clothes into the assigned dresser, then hung his name tag over the bedpost, claiming it as his own. When the door opened, he watched Brendon meander over to the bunks, hopping onto an unoccupied top bunk and looking down at Tyler from his perch.

“Who’re you bunking with?” he said, tone not hurt, just curious. For all that Brendon could be annoying, Tyler had to appreciate that he was pretty much the most easygoing person ever and was rarely offended. So he just grinned widely and hit the bottom of Brendon’s foot as he walked past.

“New guy. Blue hair.” Brendon’s mouth fell open and Tyler caught the tail end of him yelling about how unfair that was before he laughed and left the cabin.

He didn’t corner Josh during dinner--the poor kid was being accosted by all sides anyways. New blood, Tyler thought, chatting with Mark and Brendon over hot dogs and corn on the cob and lukewarm beer half of them were barely legal enough to drink (or not old enough at all, but rules were always a little lax the first night). New blood meant curiosity, and he kept one eye on the flash of hair throughout the meal until he looked up and it was gone. When his phone sounded, he tugged it out of his phone pocket and swiped it open, grinning when he saw Jenna’s name.

 _any news about the new guy??_ he read. Wiping his fingers on the paper towel at his elbow, he fired back:

_still very cute, still unsure as to anything about him except blue hair and cool tattoo._

_bring him to the party_ his phone jingled a moment later, and he simply sent back ten thumbs up emojis in a row, shoving the phone back in his pocket. He downed the last swallows of his drink and saluted Mark and Brendon, grinning. 

“Gonna go find the new kid,” he announced, swinging his legs off the bench and twisting his hips to avoid Brendon slapping his ass. “See you guys at the girls’ soon.” And with that he headed out, head swiveling down the beach until he spotted a lone figure standing near the beginnings of the bonfire. Starting down, he took a moment to admire the way Josh was standing, relaxed but aware all at once, and he felt that familiar tickle at the pit of his stomach. Inviting him to the party was definitely the best way to find some things out.

\-------

Josh followed Tyler across the beach, the _this is the correct way to open every summer at the lake_ still echoing in his ears, and he concentrated on stepping carefully over the sand, grabbing out his phone and turning on the flashlight when Tyler did the same ahead of him, noting they were heading into the woods at the edge of the beach, following an old gravel path. Josh cleared his throat. 

“Not to sound too much like a horror movie or anything,” he said, laughing slightly, “but you’re not taking me to some, like, ritual virgin sacrifice or anything where I have to pledge my allegiance to the camp, right?”

Tyler turned slightly to flash him a grin. “You saying you’re a virgin, Josh?” he asked, and the tone was light, teasing, and Josh felt himself flush.

“I was actually thinking of the other kid….Brendon?” he said, trying to cover for the joke he had totally just opened himself up for and walked into. “I mean, he seems nice, but way too trusting to hang out with some of you.” Tyler laughed and Josh’s heart warmed with the sound.

“Nah, virgin sacrifices come later,” Tyler said, stepping to the left suddenly and teetering slightly. Sweeping his flashlight over the ground, Josh saw why: he was on a beam barely wider than a two-by-four, stretching across the narrowest part of the lake, leading to the beach of the girls’ camp. “Besides, they’re pretty messy. Come on.” With that, he stepped farther out, arms out to the sides to balance himself. Taking a breath, Josh tightened his grip on his phone and stepped out after him, exclaiming softly when the board shifted and he swayed sideways. He felt warm fingers encircle his wrist and prayed his pulse wasn’t hammering as fast as he thought it was. “You good?” Tyler asked, and he nodded before realizing it was dark.

“Yes, yeah, thanks,” he said, but Tyler’s fingers remained on his wrist for another moment before he dropped his hand, and Josh’s skin keenly felt the absence of Tyler’s. “Just...kind of clumsy,” he said, clearing his throat again, and he heard Tyler huff out a laugh.

“Well, I’ve fallen in a few times, so be careful,” he warned, and they set off again, shuffling over the board, water lapping at the toes of their shoes, and after only a couple minutes, Tyler was hopping off onto the sand, cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling, dramatically, “Jeeeeeennnnaaaa!” Josh heard hooting laughter coming from the direction of a flickering bonfire, and Tyler flashed him that grin again, beckoning with his head. Josh figured he had no option but to follow.

\-------

Tyler set off across the sand, checking to be sure Josh was following, and jogged across the beach when he was sure Josh was there, waving at the small figure running towards him.

“Ty!” Jenna exclaimed, launching herself at him, and even though he caught her they went down in a tangle of limbs and Tyler coughed, spitting out sand and rubbing some in her ponytail. 

“You did that on purpose,” he said, and she grinned, face shifting in the light from the fire, before kissing him dead on the mouth and glancing up over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, probably. Is this the new guy?” she asked, clambering off Tyler and brushing sand off her shorts. “Hey. I’m Jenna,” she smiled warmly, taking Josh’s hand in her own and Tyler rolled over, watching Josh smile back, a bit hesitantly.

“Yeah, uh, my friend Debby talks about you a lot,” he said, tugging at his hair again, and Tyler’s hands itched to smooth it back down. As if on cue, he heard another voice separate from the throng already gathering, this one yelling Josh’s name, and he watched as Josh’s whole face smiled, eyes crinkling up at the corners and tension Tyler hadn’t even been aware of before that moment draining from his shoulders. “Debs!” Josh caught the tiny, silver-haired girl mid leap, staggered slightly, but managed to keep them both upright. 

“You didn’t tell me you knew Debby,” Tyler said, stepping forwards to slap his palm against hers when she raised it for a high-five. “If we were co-ed camps, she’d be my biggest competition.”

“As though you seriously _have_ any,” Jenna said, linking her arm through Tyler’s as Josh shifted Debby onto his back to carry her, piggy-back style, back to the bonfire.

“Oh, I do,” Tyler said, tone serious. “Jishwa has informed me that he is serious competition.” Behind them, Debby snickered.

“Jishwa,” she said, and Tyler turned to see her poke Josh in the side. “I like it.” Josh ducked his head, and Tyler imagined the blush riding high on his cheeks, watched him tap his fingers nervously on Debby’s knee, and wondered what it was about nervous twitches that were suddenly so attractive. “How have we known each other three years without me giving you an obnoxious nickname yet?” she asked, swinging hair into Josh’s face, but he just laughed and pushed her head back gently, bouncing her slightly in his arms.

“You actually have someone other than Brendon willing to take you on?” Jenna laughed, twirling to walk backwards and face Josh as they came into the light of the bonfire. “My money’s on you, Josh. About time someone took this one down,” she said, reaching up to ruffle Tyler’s hair. He batted her hand away, laughing, and Debby jumped down to run to the counselor’s cabin, announcing something about grabbing “the book.”

“What’s ‘the book’?” Josh asked, stepping up next to Tyler by the bonfire, watching the girls chatter in smaller groups, some other counselors from their camp already there.

“Jenna and Debby take bets on the boys’ outcome,” Tyler said, grabbing two drinks from the cooler and passing one to Josh, twisting the cap off his and taking a swallow. “Brendon and Mark do it for the girls. Last two years, no one’s bet against me.” He tilted his head and looked up at Josh through his eyelashes, smiling slowly. “That’s probably going to change this year, and make the odds really interesting.”

Tyler watched Josh swallow, hard, barely containing his glee, before Josh took a swig from his own bottle and returned the smile. “I aim to make things interesting,” he said, voice catching on his words again, reminiscent of their earlier conversation, and Tyler felt that hitch in his stomach again, and oh, yeah, he thought, things would definitely be interesting.

Debby ran up to them a moment later, small purple notebook in hand, and she waved it at Tyler. “Behold,” she said, flipping it open and tilting it towards the light. “You already have someone betting against you.”

“What?!” Tyler exclaimed, grabbing the book and examining the name, eyes widening. “Jenna Black!” he shouted the name, and Josh heard Jenna’s laugh from the other side of the bonfire. “You’re a traitor and you can forget about me helping you this year!” Whoops of laughter sounded from the bonfire, and Josh laughed quietly when Debby winked at him, sauntering off. “Betrayed,” Tyler said dramatically, clutching his bottle to his chest. 

“No sense of loyalty,” Josh agreed, patting Tyler on the shoulder in sympathy, resisting the urge to rub his hand against his jeans afterwards because, wow, he could feel the heat of Tyler’s skin against his palm through the thin fabric of Tyler’s shirt and maybe touching him had been a bad idea. 

“None at all,” Tyler sighed, taking another sip of the drink in his hand. “Well, there are others not foolish enough to bet against me.” He smiled wickedly at Josh, watched him blink rapidly, swallow hard again, and took a chance, patting him gently on the cheek, feeling the scrape of stubble against his palm. “Don’t worry, though,” he said, teasing. “ _Someone_ else is going to bet on you.” 

Josh coughed, clearing his throat again. “Well, knowing Debby she’s probably already put her money on you,” he admitted, drinking again to ease the dryness of his throat, Tyler’s hand still a phantom on his cheek. “But I’m sure I can win some alliances….Brendon’s nice, don’t you think?” he added brightly, wandering towards the fire and leaving Tyler there, wondering how Josh went from fidgety and anxious to teasing and almost flirtatious in about two seconds. 

“You’re here!” he heard Brendon exclaim brightly. “Where’s Tyler, we’re totally playing Spin the Bottle.” As protests erupted and music blared out of someone’s portable speakers, Tyler shook his head and stepped into the light of the fire, eyes catching blue hair flickering in firelight and watching as the owner of said hair met his eyes and smiled slowly, the light catching something in the depths of his eyes, and this time it was Tyler who swallowed past the lump in his throat.


	4. The Friction in Your Jeans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh wasn't sure how he ended up playing Drunk Spin the Bottle, but he was pretty sure he had some sort of an advantage over Tyler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look it's kind of a precursor of smutty things to come. Underage drinking/pot use mentions.

Josh was honestly not entirely sure how he ended up sitting in a circle on a tiny scrap of beach, sandwiched between Debby and Brendon, playing Spin the Bottle.

Was he ten?

Correction, he thought, blinking away the slight blur at the edges of his vision, they were playing _Drunk_ Spin the Bottle, because they were adults or something, and that was apparently what adults who’d known each other their entire lives and spent the entire summer together did.

Just from watching the interactions between the various counselors over the past couple of hours, Josh had come to the conclusion that Mark totally had a thing for Hayley, who was probably gay for Jenna, but maybe not entirely because she had kissed Brendon for about thirty seconds straight when she’d first emerged from her cabin, but he was pretty sure _Brendon_ was gay….he was also pretty sure he was a little too drunk for this.

Where were his thoughts even going? Right. Spin the Bottle. Ten years old.

Because in his head, he _was_ ten years old again, sitting on this same beach, only it was a soda bottle instead of a beer bottle, and they were all about ten years younger, and Tyler wasn’t sitting across from him, staring at him with bottomless eyes that Josh just wanted to lose himself in until his headspace calmed down and the tension drained out of his shoulders and he could maybe finally stop being half-hard around the guy all the time because as pleasant as being turned on was, almost eight hours of it was just too much to handle. No, in his memory, Tyler was sitting next to him, whispering in his ear about how much Jenna wanted to kiss a boy named Eric, and ten-year-old Josh was suddenly very uncomfortably aware of his dick for the first time. He saw Tyler staring at him and looked down, feeling his face flush.

He caught a glimpse of his tattoo in the flickering light and realized, belatedly, that it looked pretty cool, like there were little creatures hiding in the woods, peering out through the shadows. No wonder Tyler thought it was cool. He almost poked his arm to see if the creatures were real before remembering people were watching.

He was definitely more drunk than he’d bargained for.

So when he heard whoops and cheers, he blinked and glanced up, grin slightly lopsided as he saw Jenna roll her eyes and lean over to plant one on Brendon’s mouth, and Brendon just licked her cheek when she pulled back, causing Debby to cackle on Josh’s other side and bump her head affectionately against his shoulder. He turned and nosed at her cheek, scrunching up his face at her when she turned to look at him, earning himself a gentle shove in return. He almost fell over. Yep, too drunk for this.

But it was nice, the smell of the fire and the warmth on his legs, the play of light and shadow on everyone’s faces, the way Hayley’s hair glowed a brighter orange in the firelight, how Debby’s silver took on a golden tint, like she was some sort of warrior queen…

Now that Josh thought about it, someone (Brendon) had also had pot. Wow, he was the _worst_ camp counselor ever. But he hadn’t done much, just enough to ease his nerves slightly, because the crush of new people was overwhelming and he couldn’t quite take all of them asking him questions even though he knew it was sociable and friendly and easy-going. So he’d taken a few tokes, and drank a few beers, and was now sprawled out in the sand, drawing little patterns with his finger and waiting his turn. He watched Dan kiss Hayley. He watched Mark kiss Jenna on the cheek, protesting that she was way too much like a sister to kiss on the mouth. He watched Brendon leer at Tyler before leaning over and hey, wow, that was Brendon’s tongue trying to get in Tyler’s mouth. 

Half of Josh was irrationally jealous of that moment, and the other half of Josh was disturbingly turned on. But Tyler just laughed and pushed Brendon away, winking at him and cooing that he just wasn’t that kind of girl, Urie. Josh cracked a smile and caught Tyler’s eye, and Tyler tilted his head, smile slow, as he reached out and spun the bottle. Josh broke their eye contact, looking down at the shimmering glass in the firelight, watching it move sluggishly in the sand until…

It stopped on him. And then his heart stopped. He heard the catcalls, heard the whistles and felt Debby pat him on the back and congratulate him on his initiation into being a camp counselor.

But he only had eyes for Tyler, because Tyler’s eyes had gone dark again, black pits, unreadable, and his smile had turned almost feral, and he leaned forwards on his hands and knees, crawling, Jesus _fucking_ Christ, towards Josh on his hands and knees, hips swaying a little more than was needed.

“Here’s your virgin sacrifice,” he said softly as he reached Josh, settling back on his heels and running his fingertips lightly down Josh’s jaw and yep, well, his cock was fully interested in what Tyler was doing. Without realizing it, really, Josh shifted and sat up, leaning into Tyler’s touch, matching his smile slowly, trying to cover for the fact that he was completely petrified because holy fucking shit, this was not a drill.

“Consider me a willing participant in the ritual, then,” he replied, eyes dropping to Tyler’s lips, and he was aware of the hoots and laughter behind him, the sudden stillness of Debby to his left, but he couldn’t even care because Tyler was leaning in and his lips were on Josh’s, one hand still cradling his jaw, and this was so, so much better than Josh could have imagined it.

He held very still, expecting Tyler to just kiss him and be done with it, but Tyler kept his hand curled around Josh’s cheek, tilting his head to angle their mouths together better, and Josh heard the circle begin to quiet as he sighed, the movement barely noticeable. 

Tyler noticed, and his tongue swept gently over Josh’s lower lip, barely dipping into his mouth to slide wetly behind his teeth before his hand was gone, his mouth retreating, and Josh just stared at him.

Tyler’s pupils were blown huge, mouth open slightly and wet from Josh’s, and Tyler licked his lower lip once, as though he were chasing the taste of Josh’s lips on his. 

Josh thought it was a really good thing the fire wasn’t as bright as it had been an hour before, or else every other counselor there would know he was rock-hard. Skinny jeans were unforgiving things.

Hayley whooped and applauded, and Brendon wolf-whistled through his teeth. Josh felt himself blush, felt the slight trance of the moment break, and forced himself to laugh, licking his own lips, rolling his eyes at Tyler, who kept his stare a moment longer before grinning and pushing to his feet, bowing in every direction.

“If this were a competitive game,” he announced, stepping back next to Jenna before flopping in the sand, “you’d all be smoked.” He blew the sulking Brendon a kiss and winked at Hayley before flicking his eyes over to Josh again, teeth setting briefly in his lower lip.

And Josh knew that look. That look was the same one Tyler had given him earlier. The “you’re not going to win this so easily” look. Josh felt his stomach flutter, anxiety mixing with anticipation, and he felt a small surge of confidence. Keeping his eyes on Tyler, he leaned back on his elbows, shirt riding up on his stomach slightly, rolling his neck back on his shoulders to expose the line of his throat. 

When his head came back up, Tyler’s hands were tighter on his beer bottle and he wasn’t paying attention to Debby blushing as she kissed Jenna.

Not a competitive game? Josh thought, smiling slowly, enjoying the slight feeling of being drunk for the first time that night, appreciating the fact that it let him, for this moment, act on what he’d been wanting to do since that morning. He ruffled one hand through his hair and dropped it to his lap, hand resting alongside his crotch, thumb pressing lightly against the bulge in his jeans, and he bit his lip to keep from laughing when Tyler choked, coughing on his beer.

Josh dropped his hand to the sand as people glanced over at Tyler, who was waving them away, saying he’d just swallowed wrong, eyes still flicking back over to Josh, who simply settled back on his elbows and kept his fingers in the sand.

_Not a competitive game, my ass,_ Josh thought, suddenly feeling a lot more confident about his chances at winning the Camper’s Challenge, not to mention the challenge one Tyler Joseph had just dropped in his lap.


	5. Perhaps We're Getting Ahead of Ourselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler's really not sure Josh knows what he's getting himself into, because playing Chicken with Tyler? Tyler, the most competitive person around Josh for the rest of the summer? Is only going to end up with Josh losing. Which Tyler can totally get behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realize it took four chapters to get through the first day, but things will move a little quicker in terms of time passing.....hopefully. I'm bad at moving things along quickly.

Tyler woke up to Taylor Swift blaring through the counselor’s cabin and groaned, letting his displeasure out and smashing his pillow over his ears. He briefly heard Dan cackle from the opposite corner of the room and peered blearily out from under his pillow. “Okay, but _why_?” he whined, flailing one hand out of the blankets and grabbing his phone from the dresser, glancing at the time and groaning again, closing his eyes and burrowing under the pillow. It’s six-thirty. In the _morning_. And Tyler is maybe a little hungover.

Dan’s laugh interrupted the tiny pity party he was starting for himself, and Tyler opened his eyes to see Brendon, half-naked, standing on his bunk and performing some sort of demented strip-tease, and, _god_ , Tyler really hates these guys right now.

“I really hate all of you,” he announced, throwing his pillow across the room at Brendon and missing by a mile. Brendon just snickered and turned, shaking his ass while Taylor informed him she’s a nightmare dressed like a daydream. Tyler kicked his feet, childishly, then sat up, rubbing the heel of one hand over his face and yawning as the sheet fell down to his waist, stretching his arms over his head and blinking owlishly at the other guys in the cabin. Thanks to Dan, most of them were now waking up, and he heard Spencer voice his displeasure at the music choice, and Mark smacked his leg from the next bed over, groaning in solidarity. 

Tyler scrubbed his hand through his hair and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, stepping on his crumpled jeans on the floor, vaguely remembering leaving them there in the slightly-drunken, massively turned-on state he’d returned to the cabin in the night before, needing to strip down and get under blankets pronto since Josh had followed him back with Mark and Spencer and could, at any moment, have walked in and seen just the effect he had on Tyler.

Standing, Tyler peered into the top bunk, mouth falling open when he saw it was made pristinely, Josh’s badge already gone from the bedpost, and he ducked down to stare at Mark, jerking one thumb at the bed above him. “His bed is made. At six-thirty in the morning. While we’re mostly hungover.” Mark just shrugs and stands, yawning.

“Maybe he’s a morning person?” he offers, grabbing his iPod and ambling over to Dan, yanking his off the iPod dock and slamming his down, sneering. “I’m revoking your music privileges,” he announced, and Brendon booed, but Spencer and Tyler applauded. “Because if I have to be awake at six-thirty in the morning, hungover, about to face tiny children, I demand better tunes.” Tyler grabbed his shower caddy, laughing, as Dan and Mark began arguing over what constituted “better tunes” and dug out clothes from his dresser, heading to the shower building. 

He doubled back halfway there because he’d forgotten his flip-flops (something he had insisted, in his foolish younger years, that he didn’t need, and then he’d gotten a fungus one year and hadn’t gone without) and ran smack into someone on his way out of the cabin because he was yelling over his shoulder at Mark about how there was _no way_ Kanye could beat out Beyonce (she was the queen for a reason), and he stopped short, blinking at wet blue hair hanging into tourmaline eyes, and his mouth completely dried up.

“Uh. Hey?” Josh offered, smiling crookedly at him, damp towel hanging loosely from one hand, a pair of shorts dangerously low on his hips (not that Tyler was _looking_ , that would be _rude_ , but he’d definitely noticed the tantalizing V Josh’s hipbones made and the definition of abs above them and okay, yeah, he looked, he wasn’t a saint), eyebrow raised quizzically at Tyler. “You know, you have a point. About Beyonce,” he added when Tyler looked at him blankly. It snapped Tyler back to his senses, and he laughed, slinging his own towel over his shoulder.

“Tell Mark,” he said, rolling his eyes, realizing for the first time Josh wasn’t wearing shorts but swim trunks, and he raised one eyebrow in return. “You were swimming at six-thirty in the morning?” he asked, voice clearly conveying how freaking ridiculous that idea was to him. Josh just shrugged.

“I like swimming,” he said simply, picking up the towel to rub it over his hair, hair that was beginning to curl slightly at the nape and had Tyler’s fingers itching to touch it, so he just gripped his towel tighter and definitely did not focus on the way Josh’s tongue darted out to wet his lips before he spoke again (definitely not remembering what those lips felt like on his, tasting like smoke from the bonfire and too-warm beer and something under it that had Tyler chasing the taste into Josh’s mouth and taking the game maybe a bit too far). “It helps me get going in the morning.”

“Oh, there are plenty of other ways to get going in the morning around here,” Tyler said easily, not realizing until he said it that it came off as such a double entendre, but Josh blushed again, the sight so endearing, so deliciously tickling, so different than the slightly-drunk Josh who’d teased Tyler right back the night before that Tyler found himself grinning, shifting his stance slightly to hide the fact that Josh blushing was, apparently, a thing for him. “I meant because of the campers,” he said, laughing, the sound not mean. Josh closed his eyes briefly and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Yeah. I knew that,” he said, clearing his throat and tugging his hair, shaking wet droplets out of his eyes, a few flying off to land on Tyler’s chest, and Tyler watched as Josh apparently moved without thinking, brushing the droplets off his bare skin, off the ink of the tattoos across his chest, and Josh’s fingers froze when he realized it, eyes darting to meet Tyler’s.

Yeah, Josh uncomfortable and slightly off-balance was _definitely_ a thing Tyler could get behind. “Don’t stop on my account,” he said, tone still deceptively light, hands clutched tight around his shower tote and towel so he didn’t use one of them to drag Josh’s mouth up to his slightly, wrap the other around his hips and press tiny bruises into the bones there, hold him against him as he licked his way back into Josh’s mouth to find out just what it was that was so appealing.

Josh laughed, though, the sound only slightly strained, and dropped his hand, fingers flexing. “Sorry,” he said, smile sheepish. Tyler shrugged. 

“I’m showering anyways, so it’s all good. You just got me a head start.” He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "Also, about last night..." he started, then stopped when Josh shrugged, shaking hair out of his eyes again.

"You're competitive," he said, tone almost teasing. "I get it. Just know I'm still planning on crushing you in the challenge." His eyes darkened slightly as they dropped to Tyler's mouth, and Tyler felt himself hardening. "You can distract me all you want," Josh said, eyes meeting Tyler's again. "It's not going to work, though." Tyler couldn't believe--had he just--Josh had basically just given him permission to continue this game of...whatever that they had going, and he smiled slowly, watching a blush form high on Josh's cheeks as he took one step forwards, tilting his head slightly, but then more music blared out of the cabin door behind him, this time Taylor battling with….

“Is that...is that Mozart dubstep?” Josh asked, tone incredulous, taking a small step back from Tyler, and Tyler rolled his eyes, knowing the moment was completely broken.

“Brendon,” he said by way of explanation, sounding exasperated due to the fact that he'd just been cock-blocked by fucking Mozart, and Josh laughed, the sound less strained, eyes disappearing into dimples, and yeah, Tyler could get behind all things Josh Dun--literally. “Anyways, the kids will be here in a couple hours, you might want to get yourself all perked up for the day,” he said, walking past Josh and bumping him with his elbow, watching as Josh blinked at the lack of any other contact, his body still braced for something Tyler wasn't quite sure of. “They’re a handful on the first day.”

“Good point,” Josh said, clearing his throat, and Tyler heard the music swell and then retreat again as the door to the cabin opened and closed behind him, and he hurried the rest of the way to the showers, grateful that each shower was its own enclosed stall now, not a row of stalls with curtains for doors as they had been when he was younger, because the instant Josh had touched his bare skin, fingertips cool with water against the heat of Tyler’s chest in the sun, he’d been rock-hard, shifting his towel in front of him to conceal that slightly embarrassing fact.

Closing himself in one of the stalls, he turned the water on, kicking his boxers off and dunking his head under the lukewarm spray. Wrapping one hand around his cock, bracing his forearm against the wall, mouth falling open as he shuddered out a breath, only able to focus on cotton candy-blue hair and eyes the same sparkling brown as the beach at sunset.

\--------

Josh was gone with Tyler got back to the cabin, showered, dressed, and only feeling a little guilty about jerking off to a guy he’d known twenty-four hours--although he had kissed the guy when he’d only known him for about fourteen hours, so there might have been something messed up with the order he was going, here, but he stashed his shower stuff, tugged on Brendon’s foot where it was dangling over the bunk to remind him breakfast was happening, like, _now_ , and headed out to the mess hall, Brendon scrambling behind him.

The others were already seated, and Tyler waved brightly when he saw Dallon and Pete in the kitchen, whipping through the doors to steal bacon from Dallon and not moving quite fast enough to avoid getting his ass slapped by Pete, who yelled after him that Patrick said hey. Moving to the table, chomping on his bacon, Tyler grinned and beat Brendon there by a millisecond, sliding onto the bench next to Josh, pressing their legs together in the small space.

“Hey,” he greeted him, offering the half piece of bacon he had left. 

“Hey yourself,” Josh sounded amused, and took the bacon from him, his fingers brushing Tyler’s lightly before he lifted it to his mouth, turning back to the story Mark had been telling. Tyler stretched out his legs, feet knocking against Josh’s, and reached over the table to grab toast and eggs from the platter, settling food on his plate as he tuned in to what Mark was saying. 

He joined the conversation easily, Josh blending in, he noticed, but also staying quiet at times, tugging his shirt hem or his hair, and Tyler wanted to press his hands down, let him know it was fine, everything was fine. They weren’t going to bite. 

Well, he thought, _he_ might bite, but so far that was only a passing thought. 

When Tyler felt fingertips brush the side of his thigh, he glanced down to see Josh was leaning one hand on the bench, resting his weight on it as he listened to Dan and Brendon argue over baseball, and Tyler started to brush it off--they were sitting rather close, it was a small bench--but then Josh’s fingers slowly danced along the line of Tyler’s thigh and for the second time that morning his mouth went dry. But the hand was gone a moment later, and Tyler just stared at Josh--slightly awkward Josh, who was still, for all intents and purposes, listening to Brendon defend his team--who pretended he didn’t even feel Tyler’s stare.

Jake came to their table then to hand out their camper information, and Tyler grabbed his, skimming his ten campers, before standing and stretching. Leaning down to grab his tray, he casually curled his fingers around the back of Josh’s neck to balance himself before straightening and dropping his hand, but not before he’d felt Josh still completely underneath him, breath faltering slightly as he spoke.

“Gentlemen,” he said, grinning, “I’d just like to wish you all the best of luck in this year’s Camper Challenge.” Mark rolled his eyes and Spencer lazily raised his middle finger, causing Brendon to giggle into his orange juice as he stood. “My group looks pretty good, is all I’m saying,” Tyler continued. Josh twisted to look up at him, and nope, Tyler was _not_ focusing on the way his head was level with Tyler’s hips.

“Well, I’ve already warned you,” he said, swinging his legs over to stand, crowding into Tyler’s space slightly. “I’m going to give you a run for your money.” With another blinding grin, he grabbed his things and headed over to dump them, other counselors following suit. Mark paused by Tyler for a moment, though, sighing dramatically.

“You just have to start playing chicken with the new guy on the first day, don’t you?” he asked. Tyler blinked innocently. 

“Me? Never.” Mark just snorted out a laugh.

“We all saw you kiss him,” he reminded Tyler, the two of them heading over to dump their things. “And I saw what you just did, getting in his space. The betting this year is definitely going to be interesting, because he seems just as up to the challenge as you do.” Tyler grinned, dumping his tray and slinging one arm over Mark’s shoulder.

“Counting on it.”


	6. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short interlude between the two pairs of best friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for being patient with me and for all the lovely comments! My sister is doing much better, thank you, but still on the road to recovery. This chapter is a little silly and a little filler, but I have a MUCH longer one planned next.

Debby and Jenna:

D: _okay, but don't you think it's a little weird that josh shows up and then tyler has his tongue down his throat?_  
J: _lmao are you jealous because josh is YOUR gay boyfriend and so he can't be tyler's?_  
D: _NO josh can have a legit boyfriend but i didnt think tyler was looking for ~legit~ boyfriend....?_  
J: _i didn't think so either. but you know ty's competitive bullshit. maybe he's just looking for an edge._  
D: _that was a hint for you to find out his intentions on my cotton candy bestie._  
J: _on it._

 

Jenna and Tyler:

J: _yo so if you're going to sleep with josh, debby wants to know so she can warn you about taking his virtue first_  
T: _hi jenna it's LOVELY to talk to you to at the unGODLY HOUR OF SIX AM why are you talking about my sex life at six am?_  
J: _debby's worried you're gonna mess with josh._  
T: _if anything, YOU should be worried about him messing with me because yesterday when we had the kids on the lake for swimming he kept making sure our hips bumped and one time he ran right into me face-first and if we'd been naked we would have been living in sin in that moment. i thought he was shy????_  
J: _i'm DYING over here. gotta tell debby._  
T: _DON'T YOU DARE, he can't know that he's actually flustering me that would mean i would lose!_  
J: _so you do wanna sleep with him?_  
T: _honestly don't know. kissing him was nice. so that would be cool._  
J: _so noted_

Jenna and Debby:

J: _apparently josh can hold his own because he shoved his penis against tyler's yesterday--fully clothed, though. doesn't this kid have severe anxiety??_  
D: _yeah, and also a ten year old crush on tyler._  
J: _......well that explains a lot. i won't tell ty though, that's josh's thing to tell him_

Jenna and Tyler:  
J: _debby says he's just trying to distract you. he apparently wants to win really badly._  
T: _yeah. well, he's not going to because i am the KING of chicken._  
J: _whatever you need to tell yourself, sweetheart_

Josh and Debby:  
D: _hi there cutie pie lovely morning ARE YOU TRYING TO HAVE SEX WITH TYLER JOSEPH_  
J: _......good morning to you, too, silver fox._  
D: _not answering the questions answers it in the affirmative, jishwa._  
J: _you're really going to keep calling me that? really?_  
D: _it's cute. like you. but seriously, sex with tyler????_  
J: _more like flirting with tyler because he thinks it's all part of the game and letting him and me think that is the only way i have enough courage to do this so can you please just accept my false courage and be proud of me?_  
D: _oh, honey, i'm super proud of you. he looks flustered every time you're around. you're making the pool very interesting._  
J: _i aim to make your life interesting, debs._

Debby to all counselors (minus Josh and Tyler):  
_listen up, kiddos: the game has changed. ty and josh are changing the rules a little bit, so if you want to change your bets, you have one chance, and one chance ONLY. it's been a week and so far there have been no challenges for the campers yet but things heat up next week and if this week's been any indication, neither ty or josh is going to have their head in the game. so if you want to have a chance, you may have a pretty good shot this summer. chances to change your bets end tonight at midnight. you know where to find us. kisses, jenna and debby._

_\-------_

If Tyler or Josh wonder why the other turns bright red around them that day and stutters out their words and neither of them touch each other for roughly six hours, neither one mentions it. They're both a little too busy recounting the conversations with their respective female counterparts and wondering what it would actually feel like to have some of those questions they were asked acted upon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS I made a tumblr (suewritesthings) if you have prompts you want to send in, one-shots you want to see in this world or others, or ANYTHING, really, just send them in and let me know I love writing :)


	7. Kisses on the Necks of Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “They’re taking bets on who’s going to lose Chicken first, and some of us have a conflict of interest. Like myself, for example. I believe you’ll win the Camper’s Challenge but lose Chicken.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm going to hell

Josh eyed his campers from his perch at one of the arts and crafts tables, watching them huddle over the lanyards they were supposed to be making, twirling a piece of material absently between his fingers. When Mark plopped down across from him and grinned brightly, Josh returned the smile, but then paused, eyes narrowing. 

“Okay, see,” he said, pointing at Mark with the lanyard string, “that’s a really creepy grin you’ve got going, and I’m not sure I want to know where this is headed.” Mark just shrugged, arm suddenly whipping out to grab Greg, one of Josh’s kids, by the shirt.

“Don’t even think about doing what you’re thinking of,” he said, voice pleasant but eyes hard, and Greg grinned sheepishly and put the glue gun back on the table, hurrying over to his friends Liam and Harry. It kind of amazed Josh, honestly, how Mark seemed to have a sixth sense about the kids before he even realized his campers might be up to something. Of course, Mark had spent years with these kids, Josh supposed, so that might have something to do with it. Mark watched the three boys huddle together back over their lanyards, then turned back to Josh, grinning brightly.

“So,” he said, propping his chin on his fists. “The odds have changed to be slightly more in your favor.” Josh blinked, taking a moment to register what he was talking about, then he realized: the betting pool. The odds were in _his_ favor?

“Wait, seriously?” he asked, smiling slowly, twisting in his seat to glance over where Tyler and his kids were playing in the sand volleyball court, ignoring the twist in his stomach when he noticed Tyler was, once again, shirtless, and his shorts were _just_ clinging to his hipbones. As if Tyler knew Josh was watching, he stretched up to hit the ball over the net, shorts slipping down farther, before turning and meeting Josh’s eyes, his smile slow and feral. Josh swallowed hard and looked back at Mark, who was looking at him with something like pity.

“Yes, seriously, but if you keep letting him get the better of you, you’re never going to win. Because there’s also another stipulation the girls want to add to the betting, which I feel obliged to inform you of and LIAM PUT THE GLUE GUN BACK!” Liam jumped, Josh saw, and he raised one eyebrow, holding out his own hand for the incriminating evidence. Liam set it in Josh’s hand and grinned.

“We’re just trying to make a sign to let Cardinal know we’re gonna kick their asses this summer,” he said.

“Kick their whats?” Josh asked mildly, grateful for the immediate distraction from the fact that he was half-hard and couldn’t stop thinking about the perfect V of Tyler’s hipbones. Liam rolled his eyes.

“Kick their butts,” he amended, running off again. Josh glanced back at Mark.

“What’s the other stipulation?” he asked, half-afraid to know the answer. Mark smiled slowly.

“They’re taking bets on who’s going to lose Chicken first, and some of us have a conflict of interest. Like myself, for example. I believe you’ll win the Camper’s Challenge but lose Chicken.” Josh wasn’t sure if he should be offended by that or not, but he glanced back over at Tyler, considering. He was already pushing into Tyler’s space, carefully, and it seemed like Tyler was being equally careful. But maybe….maybe trying to goad him into losing Chicken could psyche him out enough to lose his footing. Josh turned to Mark and grinned.

“Is betting still open, or no?”

\----------

Tyler wandered to the counselor’s cabin that night after making sure his kids were settled in, enjoying the warmth of early June, the near-silence of the camp punctuated only by the occasional laugh from one of the cabins. Shirt slung over his shoulder, shoes in one hand, he breathed in the feel of camp, the smell of camp, pausing on the shore for a minute to search out Jenna’s silhouette and waving to her when he spotted her before continuing on his way. He could hear Brendon’s voice from the music building, the soft strum of a guitar accompanying him, and he half-thought about going over and joining him, grabbing his ukulele and playing something. Before he formed the thought completely, though, he caught movement by the canoe shed and detoured, curious as to who would be out at this point.

Peering around the corner, he felt the spit in his mouth dry up, and he dropped his shoes without realizing it, causing Josh to whirl around, dropping the paddle he’d been holding. He, like Tyler, was shirtless, but Tyler hadn’t been expecting the ripple of muscles over his back, the easy stretch and shift of them as Josh had lifted paddles into place. Josh tugged at his hair with one hand, smiling slightly, huffing out a laugh.

“Seems we startled each other equally,” he offered, grinning that stupid grin at Tyler that made him want to just shove Josh against the nearest surface and kiss him senseless, slide his hands inside his jeans, his stupid skinny jeans that showed off his legs and ass perfectly, wanted to palm Josh through his boxers, under his boxers, wrap his fingers around him and--

“You okay, Ty?” Josh’s voice broke through his thoughts, and Tyler blinked, realizing Josh had picked up the paddles again and was looking at him curiously, tongue darting out to wet his lips, hair hanging in his eyes ever so slightly, and Tyler dropped his shirt from his shoulder, walking into the shed.

“Yeah,” he said, reaching out and taking the paddles from Josh, setting them on the racks as Josh watched him with nervous eyes, breathing shaking slightly. “I’m fine.” He reached out one hand, tracing along Josh’s collarbone and trailing his fingers down his chest, playing his fingers over one nipple, and Josh grabbed his wrist, breath heavy, eyes hooded.

“I know you know the new rule,” he said, voice husky, and he cleared his throat, bringing Tyler’s hand to his mouth and nipping at each of his fingertips in turn. “And you’re going to lose, Tyler Joseph.”

Tyler shuddered, leaning into Josh before he thought about the movement, pressing their bare skin together, grabbing Josh’s hips by the belt loops and pulling them together, feeling the press of Josh’s erection against his through the layers of clothes, and Josh dropped his head to Tyler’s shoulder, panting against his skin. Tyler moaned, head falling back as Josh’s teeth nipped into the side of his neck, and then Josh’s hands were on his waist, fingers hot against his skin, but he wasn’t pulling Tyler closer, he was pushing Tyler away, trailing his fingers across Tyler’s hipbones, breath heavy.

“I’ve gotta check on my kids,” Josh said, eyes heavy on Tyler's, and Tyler wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss him again, lick behind his teeth and over his tongue, bite his lower lip until Josh trembled underneath him...but he stepped back, grabbing his shirt and waving Josh past him, smiling at him slightly, noting Josh was having trouble moving out of the space, seeming caught between wanting to win and wanting desperately to lose.

“I’m pretty good at this game,” Tyler said easily, proud that his voice was mostly steady, breath almost even. “Who says it’s not going to be you that loses?” Josh just smiled at him and walked past him, brushing his knuckles over Tyler’s jawline lightly.

“I don’t like losing.”


	8. Lips Pressed Close to Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Really, this entire thing was testing his patience. And also his right hand, because his wrist was cramping and that wasn’t cool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Josh can never get one up on Tyler. Also, sorry mom.

It had been three weeks since the incident in the canoe shed--The Incident, Josh thought, as though it had capital letters, could bite him in the ass. Which was what had been happening pretty consistently since then, he thought sourly, hefting the tub of art supplies he was carrying, arms straining slightly. Tyler had found every possible opportunity to get in Josh’s space, and it was getting to the point that his nerves were fraying slightly, and he was pretty sure he hadn’t been this hard this often since he’d hit puberty. And it wasn’t even that he was hard often, it was that he wasn’t ever _not turned on_ , because anywhere he went, there Tyler was: smiling at him through lowered lashes, curling his hand around Josh’s neck for balance, trailing light fingers over Josh’s hip when he moved past him. 

Josh had thought that his sanity could have been saved by his morning swims, since he was the only counselor up that early, but then one morning a week after The Incident he’d gotten to the lake and seen another figure cutting through the water, sun shining off sleek black armband tattoos and hair the deep, dark color of mahogany, and Josh had almost groaned and buried himself in the sand then and there. But he’d gone in. He’d gone in the water, almost saint-like, staying away from where Tyler was swimming, but when Tyler had stepped out of the water, trunks so low on his hips that Josh swore they had to be glued on, water dripping from his chest, Josh had almost lost it.

Really, this entire thing was testing his patience. And also his right hand, because his wrist was cramping and that wasn’t cool.

Pausing in his walk to the art cabin, he glanced at the scoreboard. Cardinal and Tyler were in first place, with Josh’s Blue Jay in second and Brendon’s campers in Chickadee in third. Cardinal had barely squeaked by Blue Jay in the last challenge, and once Josh’s campers had realized how serious he was about beating Tyler, they’d stepped up their game. Since he had the kids who’d aged up from Cardinal, some of them were eager to win again, having won the previous year with Tyler. So far, he thought, pushing the door to the art cabin open with his hip, they were doing pretty well. 

Settling his supplies, he headed back out, grabbing his phone when it signaled and grinning at the text from Debby: _campers going home for the weekend means party on our side of the lake. see you at nine._ Every three weeks, Jake had explained, the campers went home for the weekend and the counselors got the weekend off. Those campers who decided to stay were all shuttled into town for the weekend with the older counselors and Jake and Joanne, staying in civilization for two nights. Mark had told Josh more about it, explaining they usually went and camped out on the girls’ beach, or the girls came to theirs, having bonfires, playing music, goofing off. A big party for them to have a chance to be adults. Josh smiled slowly. A chance for them to be adults, yeah, he thought, but also a chance for him to get back in Tyler’s space.

Shoving his phone back in his pocket, he headed out of the art cabin and towards the counselor cabin to grab some things.

\--------

Tyler crossed the rickety makeshift bridge to the girls’ beach, sleeping bag and booze in hand, grinning when Jenna ran over and kissed his cheek loudly, taking the beer from him. “Josh’s here already,” she announced, smile turning sly. “He looks good.” Tyler rolled his eyes, but his stomach fluttered. What about Josh could possibly look _more_ good? The man was practically killing him just by existing, for god’s sake--walking around in jeans that practically molded to his ass and legs, tank tops with arm holes cut out so long Tyler could see every movement of his abs when he shifted, saw his ribs move with his breath.

He heard whoops and laughter from the bonfire on the beach and headed over, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw what was happening. 

Drunk Spin the Bottle was well underway, and as he watched, Josh crawled, fucking _crawled_ across the circle to Brendon, whose eyes had gone slightly wide, tongue darting out to lick his lips, and Josh smiled slowly at him, Debby cackling behind him and Ashley, Hayley, and Mark whipping out their phones. 

“Don’t worry,” Tyler heard Josh say as he took an unconscious step forward, “I won’t bite--unless you want me to.” Spencer snorted into his beer, and Brendon’s eyes got even bigger, and was Josh--was Josh wearing fucking _eyeliner_? As he leaned in to Brendon, cupping his cheek with one hand and fucking _licking_ his lower lip, Tyler felt himself get suddenly, painfully hard as Josh then fit his lips over Brendon’s, watching him lick his way into the other’s mouth and holy shit, that burning sensation, yeah, that was jealousy, because Brendon was making these tiny little moans in the back of his throat and he could see Josh’s jaw working as he kissed Brendon, and Tyler realized he’d clenched his fists. He took another step forward, to do what, he wasn’t sure, but Josh pulled away and licked his lips, giving Brendon a look through eyes smoldering through smudged black kohl. 

Josh glanced over and met Tyler’s eyes, and Tyler lost his breath and most of what was left of his sanity. Brendon stuttered out something that sounded like they might be words before shaking his head slightly. Tyler just stumbled to the circle, dropping next to Sarah and Ashley, the latter of whom patted him on the back and handed him a beer. Tyler downed half of it in one long pull, unable to take his eyes off Josh’s face, because Jesus, the eyeliner. And he was wearing a stupid shirt with cat faces all over it and jeans so tight Tyler was pretty sure he’d painted them on, and when Debby said something to make him laugh, his eyes crinkled up and shit, fuck, Tyler was so, so gone.

But he tried to focus. He spun the bottle. He kissed Spencer. Spencer kissed Hayley. Brendon kissed Ashley. Jenna kissed Debby, and hey, Tyler thought, fleetingly, that was more than a friendly kiss so he’d have to talk to her about that later, and then the bottle landed on him. He looked up to see kohl-covered eyes looking back at him, and he swallowed hard. He leaned forwards, planning to tangle his hands in Josh’s hair, hold him against him until he was mewling in the back of his throat, panting against Tyler’s mouth, palming down over Josh’s erection--but Josh simply leaned forward and chastely pressed his mouth to Tyler’s, then leaned back, smiling.

“Your turn,” he said, leaning back on his elbows and resting one hand on the inside of his thigh, and oh, Tyler thought, he was so going down.

He wasn’t sure how he made it through the rest of the game, but he did somehow. The game and the music afterwards, somehow managing to sing with Brendon and Hayley, talking to Mark about the next challenge, watching Debby and Jenna inch towards each other closer and closer. Made it, somehow, until people began spreading out sleeping bags, and he watched where Josh put his, then moved his bag right behind Josh’s, smiling brilliantly at him when Josh turned to look at him out of curious eyes. But Josh simply shrugged and tugged off his shirt, letting it drop to the ground, and Tyler had to clench his fists to keep from touching the expanse of skin in front of him. Kicking off his own shoes and pulling off his shirt, he shimmied into his sleeping bag, feeling the space between him and Josh keenly. 

But he waited, patient. Waited until the voices dropped off, the fire dropped down. Waited until Josh’s breathing was almost evened out, then he unzipped his bag and rolled out, pressing up against Josh’s back and mouthing at the space behind his ear, hot and wet, tongue tracing the shell of Josh’s ear. He heard the hitch of breath, smiled at the instinctive move to get closer to him, pressing his hips forward against Josh’s ass when Josh shifted back towards him, and Tyler sucked a dark mark at the juncture of neck and shoulder, rolling his hips into Josh’s and reveling in the little catches of breath, the way his name fell, once, from Josh’s lips, sounding like a plea and a prayer at once.

And god, he wanted nothing more than to slide his fingers inside Josh, find that sweet spot to drive him crazy, open him up with fingers and tongue and slide into him, bury himself in Josh until all Josh could feel and think about was Tyler filling him up, but as his breath quickened, as he heard Josh’s catch irregularly, he found the last shred of control he had and licked over the mark on Josh’s neck.

“Goodnight,” he said softly, nipping at the shell of his ear again, stifling a laugh at the incredulous sound from Josh, the frustrated groan that followed it, and he rolled back to his sleeping back, standing and creeping past sleeping bodies, not noticing Jenna and Debby curled in the same bag, eyes locked on him, exchanging a look when he’d passed them and settled on the other side of the beach.

In his sleeping bag, Josh pressed one hand, hard, against his erection and buried his face in his pillow. Tyler fucking Joseph was going to be the death of him.


	9. Dream a Little Dream of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "New rule is there are no rules."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most graphic thing I have ever written, I'm sorry mom. And also you guys, I'm sorry if it sucks.

“Fuck, Tyler,” Josh moaned out, thrusting back onto the fingers Tyler had worked into him, spreading him open around three gloriously long, talented fingers, pressing and stretching him just so. Tyler leaned up, nipping at Josh’s collarbone, and Josh felt him smile against his skin as he panted out a breath as Tyler changed the angle of his fingers, making Josh whimper.

“You think you could come for me like this?” Tyler asked, voice low, lower than Josh had ever heard it before, and his dick gave one interested twitch before he moaned, the sound broken off as Tyler finally found his prostate, twisting and rubbing his fingers over it, and Josh’s moans got louder, higher-pitched, babbling out strings of _please_ and _more_ and _TylerTylerTyler_ , hips stuttering into Tyler’s fingers, and he opened his eyes to find Tyler’s locked on him, lower lip caught between his teeth, pupils blown so wide Josh could barely see them.

“Shhh,” Tyler said, pulling his fingers out, and Josh keened at the loss, shifting his hips up towards Tyler, and Tyler ran a soothing hand down Josh’s hip. “I’ve got you.” Josh let his head fall back, breath uneven as he heard Tyler opening a condom, heard the wrapper being discarded on the floor, and then Tyler’s hand was gentle against his cheek, and Josh opened his eyes. “You ready?” Tyler’s voice was quieter, gentler, and Josh nodded, back arching off the bed and breath catching as Tyler slowly pressed into him, and--

**COS BABY NOW WE’VE GOT BAD BLOOD YOU KNOW WE USED TO HAVE MAD LOVE SO TAKE A LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE**

Josh’s eyes flew open with a gasp at the music blaring across the beach, and he rolled right away over onto his stomach, listening to the complaining shouts of the other counselors, and he distinctly heard Tyler yell that he was going to “freaking _murder_ you, Dan!”

Josh chanced a glance around the campfire that was now only embers, trying to see if anyone else noticed the fact that he was breathing harder than normal and had probably, judging by the wetness in his boxers, actually fucking _come in his pants_ like he was thirteen. Everyone seemed preoccupied, thankfully, but he glanced over at the soft squish of footsteps in the sand, watching Tyler walk over to him to grab the bag for his sleeping bag, sleep creases on his cheek, tattoos exposed as he was still currently shirtless. Josh felt his traitor of a dick begin to harden again.

“Morning, sunshine,” Tyler said cheerily. “Sleep well?”

“I legitimately hate you,” Josh said sullenly, rolling over and contemplating burying his face in the sand. He heard Tyler crouch down, and turned his face to meet Tyler’s eyes.

“Did I cross a line?” Tyler asked, and he sounded so concerned and worried that Josh felt worry of his own pit deep in his stomach. “Because if I did, I am so, so sorry, I would never--”

“You didn’t cross a line,” Josh said quietly, reaching out with one hand to run his fingertips over the back of Tyler’s hand. “I’m just really bad at Chicken, but I really want to win.” Tyler’s grin flashed, bright and sly, and he shrugged. 

“Well, you’re driving me crazy, if that helps any,” he said, leaning in to Josh’s space, running one hand through his hair, tugging just slightly enough to make Josh’s vision blur. “Oh, that’s interesting,” Tyler said, sounding gleeful, and Josh attempted to glare at him.

“You’re going down so hard, Joseph,” he informed him. Tyler just grinned, patted him on the cheek, and stood to leave. Josh curled one hand loosely around his ankle before he could move, trailing his fingers down to the bare arch of Tyler’s foot, feeling him shiver slightly. “New rule is there are no rules,” he informed him, then let go of his ankle and watched Tyler walk away, a slight hitch in his step. Josh smiled to himself as he rolled back over, watching other counselors get out of their sleeping bags. Maybe he had a chance at winning both things yet.


	10. Interlude Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short, guys, it's been a crazy week with family visiting from out of town, but here's something to tide you over! I'm working on the next couple chapters right now.

_i’m just saying that maybe you should get to know josh before you keep fucking around with him_  
_that came out harsh and i didn’t mean it that way i just mean that he’s…..he’s kinda broken, okay?_  
_just be careful with him, joseph. i don’t want to have to hurt you. and you KNOW i will_

Tyler watched the texts from Debby come in, one after the other, phone buzzing nonstop for about thirty seconds, and frowned slightly, rubbing one thumb over his lower lip as he read them. For the week since the beach incident, he’d actually been keeping his distance a little. He knew Josh had said he hadn’t crossed any boundaries, but he’d felt like maybe he had, so he’d kept his part to light touches on Josh’s waist, sitting too close to him at dinner, sitting in front of his legs at bonfires, leaning back against him loosely. 

But maybe that was a problem. Maybe Josh thought he was just dicking him around. Shit, maybe Josh thought he was just in it for the sex (which, Tyler wasn’t going to lie, he had dreamed about for four weeks now and couldn’t handle another six weeks of this because he was literally going to die of blue balls). Maybe Josh didn’t realize Tyler actually LIKED him. 

Liked the way he chewed on his lower lip when he thought, the way he tugged his hair when he got a little nervous, the way he rubbed the swirl of color high on his shoulder when his breathing seemed to quicken. The way he stilled when Tyler touched him when he noticed his breath going ragged, his pupils blowing out wider. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, the way he laughed with his whole body. The way he was with the kids. And Tyler had finally seen him play the drums, and if he hadn’t already been almost half in love with Josh Dun, he would have begun to fall right then and there, because that boy put his entire heart and soul into playing, bouncing on the stool and hitting the drums harder than Tyler had ever seen anyone do. 

Josh hadn’t seen him watching, and Tyler had backed out before he’d been noticed, feeling like he was intruding on something private. But that moment was the only moment, aside from very few others, that Tyler had seen Josh totally relaxed.

And he had seemed more tense the past week, Tyler realized, tapping his phone against his palm and debating how to reply to the texts. Maybe he really did think Tyler was only in it for the sex…..in which case Tyler was going to have to prove him wrong. Get to know Josh Dun a little better, prove to him he wasn’t just in it for the (really amazing) sexual tension. Shit, he liked the guy, and if Debby’s texts were any indication, Josh might be freaking out because he liked Tyler BACK. Tyler grinned slowly, typing back.

_i was planning on it, don’t worry. he’s interesting, okay? and i do care._  
_don’t tell anyone i just told you that or you’re going down. i have appearances to uphold._

The reply comes seconds later.

_oh, like you’re so tough. i know you still sleep with mr. stuffins at school._

Tyler’s agenda now had two items: get to know Josh better, and murder Mark for telling Debby about his stuffed bear.


	11. I Don't Care What's In Your Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I don’t know,” came Tyler’s quiet voice in Josh’s ear, and he jumped slightly, heart skipping for more than one reason. “I’m a man and I miss toilet paper.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE IS A DESCRIPTION OF A PANIC ATTACK IN THIS CHAPTER. JUST SO EVERYONE IS PREPARED.

**PANIC ATTACK IN THIS CHAPTER. JUST SO EVERYONE KNOWS**

“You know what I miss?” Josh heard one of Brendon’s campers ask no one in particular. “Toilet paper.” He heard several groans of agreement and smiled to himself, glancing over at Brendon when he bounded forwards, scooping up the young camper and hanging him upside down, tickling at his sides. 

“Toilet paper is for the weak!” he said gleefully, sending the six year old into bouts of giggles. “We are MEN. We are not WEAK.”

“I don’t know,” came Tyler’s quiet voice in Josh’s ear, and he jumped slightly, heart skipping for more than one reason. “I’m a man and I miss toilet paper.”

“Well, you heard Brendon,” Josh said, mock-serious and trying not to focus on the way Tyler’s eyelashes looked framed in the sunset. “That means you’re weak. And we eat the weak ones out here in the wild, don’t we boys?” he raised his voice on the last part, and his campers whooped and hollered back, but Tyler just smiled and tilted his head closer to Josh.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” he asked quietly, eyes dropping down to rest on Josh’s mouth for a moment, tongue darting out to wet his lips, before he moved on towards his campers, calling for them to set up their tents. Josh exhaled a breath loudly.

They’d been on a camping trip with Chickadee, Brendon’s cabin of six and seven year olds, for the past three days, and still had three more to go before they headed back to the relative civilization of the camp. The older boys had gone camping in the other direction with the older counselors, but Josh, having the good luck to have the boys one age group up from Tyler’s, got to be with Brendon and Tyler for a week. Which was amusing, he wasn’t going to lie, but also difficult. “Stop pining and just make out already,” Brendon said in his ear, causing him to jump again, heart still beating rather loudly. He rubbed the swirl of color on his shoulder, taking deep breaths, and headed over to his kids to help them pitch tents, catching Brendon grinning at him out of the corner of his eye. 

Later, after the fire had mostly died down and the kids were tucked in their tents whispering to themselves or, occasionally, laughing like hyenas about something or other, Josh stepped out of the tent he shared with Brendon and Tyler and headed over to the fire, sitting on the ground and stretching out his legs, just wanting some time to think. 

He’d thought that Tyler hadn’t liked him after all, had maybe only been in it because of the money going on them (he knew how he himself had bet, but didn’t know how Tyler had bet, if he had at all, actually) or because he maybe, weirdly, found Josh attractive. And after the night on the beach, the last night they’d really had close contact, Josh had been sure that he at least was sexually attracted.

But then he’d been a little worried that that was all that it was, and Josh….well, he was all about Chicken, and he was all about winning the Camper’s Challenge AND Chicken, but he wasn’t about just being someone’s summer fling. And somehow Tyler had seemed to get the memo because suddenly while sitting very close to him at lunch, he’d had questions asked, too. How many siblings did he have, why did he choose to major in music, what did he miss the most about living in one place, what was it like moving around a lot as a kid, why the blue hair, he liked the forest on his arm….

If he hadn’t known any better, he would have said Tyler was courting him. 

Not that he minded, Josh thought, leaning back in the grass and staring up at the stars, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t purposefully crossed some lines--like the night he’d kissed Brendon, all wet heat and smudged eyeliner. He smirked slightly, shifting to get comfortable. He’d done it on purpose and had had a desired result. Yawning, he ran one hand through his hair, thinking he kind of liked it if what was happening was indeed Tyler courting him. With one arm tucked behind his head, and the other resting lightly on his chest, he drifted off to sleep before he realized what was happening.

\-----

Feet running running running slapping pounding the pavement behind him and his eye throbbed and his legs were going to give out and--

Josh woke, paralyzed, chest frozen, lungs on fire. _cantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathe_ his mind chanted over and over again and he shot up, doubled over, wheezing in air, fingers gripping into the dirt on the ground, gasping for breath, eyes squeezing shut and tears escaping. There was a noise behind him and he turned, scrambling back on his hands and knees away from the source.

“Hey,” he heard Tyler’s voice, gentle, almost heard it through the ringing in his ears, the complete fog taking over his brain. “Josh. Hey, I’m gonna need you to listen for me, okay?” the tone was gentle, soothing, and Josh just shook his head over and over, unable to meet Tyler’s eyes. 

“Can’t...can’t breathe,” he managed to gasp out, one hand going to tug at his hair, harder than usual, the other rubbing his chest, and he felt Tyler’s hand on the one in his hair, fingers wrapping around his own, loosening the grip slowly.

“Josh,” Tyler’s voice was more forceful this time and Josh’s gaze snapped up, looking into calm brown eyes millimeters away from his own. “Take a breath.” The tone was a command, not a request, and Josh felt himself dragging air in through his lungs as though it were molasses. “Good. Do it again.” Josh did. Tyler removed Josh’s hand from his hair completely and laced his own hand through his hair instead, exerting enough pressure to ease some of the tension in Josh’s chest and Josh almost was able to hold onto the wondering of how Tyler had figured this out, when Tyler tugged his hair lightly and he gasped in another breath. 

He heard more footsteps and started to cringe away, but Tyler tightened his grip in Josh’s hair, his free hand grabbing Josh’s hand. “It’s fine, guys. He’s just having some trouble with allergies. Go back to bed.” The tone was commanding, and Josh heard hesitation before Brendon’s voice broke through, ushering kids back to bed. 

“Josh? Breathe,” Tyler said again, and Josh realized he hadn’t been, so he sucked in more air, chest leveling out, lungs opening, and after a few minutes, he was breathing on his own, without Tyler having to tell him to, and Tyler’s fingers loosened on his hand, thumb rubbing soothing circles on his wrist. “You good?” Tyler asked, and Josh nodded. “Good. Good job,” Tyler said, softly, approvingly, and the hand in his hair loosened, instead moving to the nape of his neck to rub reassuringly there, and Josh huffed out a sigh, feeling the tension leave his shoulders. “Come here,” Tyler said, tugging at him, leading him by the hand and the nape of his neck, until Josh was leaning against Tyler, his back to Tyler’s front.

Tyler’s hand moved back to petting his hair, his other hand absently twining with Josh’s, thumb still rubbing. 

“How did you know?” Josh asked, voice quiet, relaxing back into Tyler. “That it would work?”

“I watch you,” came the quiet reply, “when you’re anxious. I see what you do.” There was a pause. “Do you want to talk about it?” Josh shook his head quickly, and the hand in his hair tightened for a moment before soothing again. “You don’t have to.” 

Josh was silent for a moment. “Thank you,” he said finally. Then, “are you courting me?”

There was another pause, then he felt Tyler huff out a laugh, felt the soft press of lips below his ear, at the juncture of neck and shoulder. “I might be. Is that a problem?”

Josh smiled in the dark. “No. I might be letting you.”


	12. Crash Into Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the last night of their camping trip, and Josh and Tyler were alone in the tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, lord.

It was the last night of their camping trip, and Josh and Tyler were alone in the tent the three of them (he and Tyler plus Brendon) were sleeping in because one of Brendon’s kids had had a nightmare and needed to be calmed down, so Brendon was bunking with them. 

Josh was acutely aware of how close Tyler was to him now that Brendon wasn’t there to distract him, and swore he could feel the heat radiating from Tyler’s body into his. They weren’t even touching--Brendon had been insisting on sleeping between them to “prevent anyone from winning Chicken when he was sleeping and missed it” or some nonsense. So Tyler was on the other side of the tent, and Josh could FEEL his presence, and his mouth was going dry and he was getting hard just thinking about what had happened the LAST time he and Tyler had been in sleeping bags near each other, and he shifted, moving one arm down to press his hand against his dick, just to relieve some pressure, and--

“Josh, I can hear you thinking all the way over here,” Tyler’s voice came out of the dark and Josh almost jumped out of his skin. He heard Tyler’s soft laugh, almost a giggle, and couldn’t help laughing in return.

“Sorry,” he said, moving his hand to rest it on his hip instead, telling his dick to just chill, dude. “Can’t sleep.” He paused for a moment, then admitted, “It’s weird without Brendon here.”

“Yeah, because no one’s making bad puns,” Tyler said, and Josh swore he could hear the eye roll, and he laughed again, rolling over to face Tyler’s direction.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I kind of like the puns.” He heard Tyler shift, then felt light fingertips come in contact with his bare chest, sliding up to his shoulder, wrapping around the nape of his neck, and he stilled, hearing Tyler scoot closer in his sleeping bag.

“Hi,” Tyler said softly, and Josh’s eyes, adjusted to the dark, could make out Tyler’s features, his eyes blinking at him in the dark. Josh cleared his throat, definitely not focusing on how soft Tyler’s fingers were against the nape of his neck, the way they were curling around his hair, drawing Tyler’s face closer. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

“We’re going to lose the bet,” Josh said, voice hoarse, leaning in towards Tyler’s mouth, and he FELT Tyler smile in the dark. 

“Don’t care,” Tyler said, pressing his mouth to Josh’s, and if he had been a lesser man, Josh would have cried, because finally, FINALLY, this was happening, and he brought up one hand to cup Tyler’s cheek, licking out over Tyler’s lower lip and into his mouth eagerly when Tyler moaned out his name, mouth opening beneath Josh’s. Josh licked into his mouth, behind his teeth, stroked over the roof of Tyler’s mouth, and then Tyler’s lips were gone and he whined in the back of his throat, but Tyler was thrashing out of his sleeping bag, rolling over on top of Josh, trapped in his own bag.

Tyler pressed one leg between Josh’s, hips thrusting forwards and creating friction so sweet Josh thought he might actually BE crying, and he moaned out Tyler’s name, eyes widening when Tyler placed one hand over his mouth. “Gotta be quiet, baby,” he said, eyes intent on Josh’s as he rolled his hips again, the movement causing Josh to feel Tyler’s erection pressing against his, and he felt his eyes roll back in his head. After weeks of teasing, this was almost too much. “Can you be quiet for me?” Tyler asked, and Josh nodded. Tyler removed his hand and leaned down, kissing Josh hard, wet, messy, teeth dragging over his lower lip as he continued rolling his hips, moving down and nipping at Josh’s jaw, his throat, his neck, sucking at his pulse point, and Josh bit into his own lip to hold back the small whimpers and cries.

Tyler lifted his head and looked down at him in the near-dark, bonfire outside providing just enough light for them to see each other. “God, Josh,” he breathed, lifting one hand and tugging it in Josh’s hair, causing Josh to whimper once before slamming his lips together, pressing them into a thin line. “You look so good like this, baby, you’re being so good, staying so quiet for me. Wanna fuck you like this,” Tyler breathed, leaning down to bite the curve of Josh’s ear, and Josh exhaled sharply, hips rolling up to meet Tyler’s as his rhythm increased, and Josh felt heat pooling at the base of his spine, fingers freeing from the sleeping bag finally and scrabbling at Tyler’s bare back, scratches he knew would be seen the next day, but Josh didn’t care. Tyler was still talking, mouth more filthy than Josh could have imagined, and he felt himself growing closer and closer, and Tyler tugged once more on his hair, hard, and Josh stuffed his fist in his mouth as he came to muffle the noises he was making, and he felt Tyler’s hips stutter above him before he stilled, ducking his head down to whisper, “next time, I want to fuck you, and I want you to be loud.” 

Josh groaned softly at that, hips twitching of their own volition, and Tyler chuckled, breathing heavy, pressing their foreheads together, breath mingling as they both came down, Tyler petting through Josh’s hair and murmuring that he’d done such a good job staying quiet, he was so good. Josh nuzzled into Tyler’s hand before he fully realized what he was doing, but Tyler didn’t laugh or react negatively, just stroked the side of Josh’s face and kissed the side of his neck, the curve of his ear, across his jaw, lazily meeting their lips together until Josh was almost keening in the back of his throat, and Tyler pulled back, smiling. 

“Is this the part where I give you my class ring, or…?” he asked, tone joking but expression caught between hopeful and worried, and Josh grinned hugely.

“Well, if you have one,” he said, “I’ll take it.” Tyler’s expression brightened, and he kissed Josh again, softer and gentler than before, then tugged at the zipper of his sleeping bag, sliding in next to him. 

They were too hot and sticky for this to work, Josh thought, but as Tyler wrapped his arms around him and rested his face in the crook of Josh’s neck, he realized he didn’t really care.


	13. Interlude Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein everyone wants to know what, exactly, happened in that tent.

Debby to Jenna:  
 _ARE TYLER AND JOSH HOLDING HANDS???????_

Jenna to Debby:  
 _what is this omg lemme ask brendon what went down??? this is news to me_

Jenna to Brendon:  
 _WHAT HAPPENED, BRENDON URIE._

Brendon to Jenna:  
 _I DON’T KNOW, I SWEAR!!!! one of my kids had a nightmare so i bunked with them and then this morning ty and josh were holding hands and like snuggling I THINK ONE OF THEM HAD TO HAVE LOST BUT IDK WHICH ONE i have failed._

Jenna to Brendon:  
 _i’ll figure it out_

Jenna to Mark:  
 _tell me everything you know, and tell me now_

Mark to Jenna:  
 _we’re having tacos for dinner? what are you ON about, black???_

Jenna to Debby:  
 _brendon’s not sure, mark’s no good. gonna have to go to the source._

Debby to Josh:  
 _is tyler your boyfriend now or are you just kissing him FOR THE HELL OF IT???_

Josh to Debby:  
 _how the hell do you KNOW these things, what have you got like hawk senses or some--do you have binoculars. WERE YOU WATCHING US THE WHOLE TIME??_

Debby to Jenna:  
 _answered the question with a question. something totally happened._

Jenna to Tyler:  
 _good morning platonic love of my life, did you fuck josh dun last night with tents full of kiddos nearby?_

Tyler to Jenna:  
 _OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU NO I DID NOT DO THAT, JESUS. i have SOME decency. all over the clothes, no worries._

Jenna to Debby:  
 _SOMEONE LOST CHICKEN, NOT SURE WHO YET._

Brendon to Tyler:  
 _I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU LOST CHICKEN WITHOUT ME THERE TO WITNESS IT_

Tyler to Brendon:  
 _you UTTER perv, there is no way i’m losing or winning chicken in a tent WITH YOU IN THERE, EW._

Josh to Mark:  
 _okay seriously why are you staring at me it’s creeping me out._

Mark to Josh:  
 _you’re holding tyler’s hand. it’s creeping ME out._

Tyler to Josh:  
 _brendon’s mad he wasn’t there to witness me losing chicken_

Josh to Tyler:  
 _.......euuuuuwwwwww_

Tyler to Josh:  
 _my thoughts exactly. meet me by the canoe cabin, i’ve got that ring for you._

Josh to Tyler:  
 _i legit thought you were joking about having a class ring._

Tyler to Josh:  
 _oh, it’s not a class ring, sweetheart. it goes somewhere else. i’d like you to wear it for me._

Josh to Tyler:  
 _we are COUNSELORS at a camp full of CHILDREN._

_i’ll be there in ten minutes_

Tyler to Josh:  
 _you’re so good, jesus. i might make out with you a little._

Josh to Tyler:  
 _i like being good for you. and i might let you._

Debby to Tyler:  
 _you better not be fucking around with him because i WILL hurt you. and you better tell him that you bet you’d lose around the time of the camping trip otherwise he’s gonna be even more hurt when he has to find out at the end of the summer._

_what are you going to do at the end of the summer?_

Tyler to Jenna:  
 _i’m screwed. i think i’m in love with this kid_

Jenna to Tyler:  
 _i know, sweetheart._

Pete to Josh:  
 _tomorrow at eleven, meet in the kitchens. don’t be late, smurf head._


	14. I'm as Good as a Bookmark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler to Debby:
> 
> _i need your help_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of anxiety. you're all going to hate me. i love you guys.

Josh arrived at the mess hall at five to eleven, not wanting to be late and piss off Pete. Not that he was sure Pete _could_ be pissed off--he’d only ever seen the cook in a good mood, but he certainly wasn’t going to be the one to change that. He opened his mouth to call out, Pete stuck his head around the doorway to the kitchen.

"Good," he said, motioning Josh in. "You're on time." His head disappeared around the other side of the door again and Josh stayed where he was for a moment, then followed, cautiously. He saw Dallon, the other cook who worked for the girls’ camp, and Gerard, one of the older counselors, standing by the sinks. Pete had two boxes in his hands, and he turned them towards Josh. “Blue or Pink?” he asks, and Josh has to pause for a moment before he realizes Pete is shirtless, showing off an impressive array of tattoos, and the boxes are hair dye.

“Pink,” he said, tugging at his own hair. “Blue’s already being rocked.” Pete grinned at him and tossed the box of pink dye at Dallon, who opened it and started mixing together the two solutions. Pete eyed Josh speculatively. 

“Don’t suppose you want pink hair? Should be enough in there for both of us,” he said, and Dallon grinned at him, shaking the bottle to mix the colors.

“Uh…” Josh’s mind wandered towards Tyler for a moment, wondered if he’d like it, then bit the inside of his cheek and shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not?” Pete beamed at him and Dallon motioned him over.

“Don’t encourage him too much, though,” Dallon said, pushing at Josh’s shoulders until he was sitting on a stool by the sink. “He’ll want to have, like, rainbow stripes next.” Pete laughed, and Josh found himself grinning at the sound. So far, he wasn’t being sacrificed to any kitchen gods or anything, which was good, and Dallon and Pete didn’t seem to want to tackle him in any way shape or form, so things were good. He jumped a little when Dallon’s hands touched his shoulders. “You might want to take this off.” Josh blushed slightly, but tugged his shirt off and let it fall, the next instant Dallon’s hands on his hair, the dye cold against his scalp, and Pete straddled his chair, face serious now. Josh felt his anxiety flutter in the pit of his stomach.

“Dallon and I know how all the bets work,” he said, scratching the side of his face with one hand while Dallon worked dye into Josh’s mohawk. 

“O-okay?” Josh said, hesitantly, not sure where he was going with this. 

“We keep track of them to make sure no one’s changing the bets after the time frame has started,” Dallon elaborated. 

“Okay?” Josh repeated, and Pete leaned closer. 

“We know how Tyler bet. And we think you’re going to want to know.”

Josh felt his anxiety flare up into his throat.

\----------

Tyler had been looking for Josh all morning. The kids were off in arts and crafts after lunch, but he hadn’t seen him with his kids for lunch, either--Brendon had them, saying something about Josh needing time “in the woods”, which Tyler figured had something to do with his anxiety, but he hadn’t wanted to go looking for him if what he wanted was to be alone. But now it was almost two and Tyler was getting worried.

Pacing the beach, he glanced across at the girls’ side of the lake, spotted Hayley’s bright orange hair as she led what looked like her younger campers in a game of duck, duck, goose, and he grinned. Hearing footsteps behind him, he half turned, then felt his stomach go weak with relief.

“There you are,” he said, smiling widely at Josh, noticing the way his jaw was set, the slight sheen in his eyes, the way his fists were clenched and one kept rubbing at the trees on his arm, and Tyler frowned, reaching out. “Josh, what’s--”

“Don’t touch me,” Josh said, tone sharper than Tyler had ever heard it, and Tyler’s hand dropped immediately, eyes widening and mouth dropping open. Josh wouldn’t meet his eyes and his voice sounded thick and Tyler took another step forwards, hands out to show he wasn’t going to touch, up like Josh was a wounded animal he needed to soothe, palms out towards him. “I said, I said don’t, Tyler, god.” He took a step back, almost stumbling, and Tyler reached out to catch him but Josh swatted his hand away. “Did you--did you do it on purpose?” Tyler’s stomach began to sink because, oh fuck, he could guess what this was about. “Did you make me like you on purpose? Was this all just so you would win some stupid bet?”

“Josh, no, it’s not like that at all, I swear to god, I never meant--”

“Never meant for me to find out you bet against yourself? Bet that you would lose during the camping trip? Or never meant to make me trust you as much as I do?” Tyler felt his heart twist, trip, break. “Because, jesus, Tyler, what a shitty thing to do to a person.”

“It’s not like that!” He could hear the desperation in his own voice and he reached for Josh again, just needed to touch him, hold on to him. “Josh, please, I didn’t expect to like you this much, didn’t even--”

“Just stop, Tyler, god!” Josh exclaimed, backing away from him. “I don’t even know if I can believe that, you know? You bet a certain way and then did evertyhing you could to make me think you liked me, and now look--you’ve won.” He backed away more, shaking his head, arm still rubbing the forest on his arm and Tyler wanted to open his clenched fists, kiss his fingers, soothe him in any way. “You won the bet, but whatever this was--is---was...it’s over.”

And with that, Josh was turning away from him. Walking away. And Tyler didn’t know what to do to make him stay.

Tyler to Debby:

_i need your help_


	15. This is Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I just---I really like you,” he said, voice desperate because Josh was still so far away and he wanted him closer, damn it, wanted him close enough to touch, to taste.

“God, Josh. Josh,” Tyler just kept repeating his name, one hand fisted in the back of his shirt, the other fisted in his hair, tight enough to hold him still, loose enough to not flare anything up, and god, Josh just _wanted_ , just clung right back, nose pressed in Tyler’s shoulder, almost weak with relief, and he turned his head enough to nose under Tyler’s ear, press kisses along his jawline, working his way to his mouth, tasting the slight tang of Tyler’s toothpaste, the underlying taste that was pure _Tyler_ , and thought that he never wanted to stop kissing him, stop touching him. 

\-------------

EARLIER THAT DAY

Tyler hunted Pete down two days later. It had taken him getting yelled at by Debby, getting told off by Jenna for betting that way and then not being up front with Josh about it, and then Mark forcing him to listen to Taylor Swift as penance before he figured out who could have told. He knew it wasn’t Debby or Jenna, they were sworn to secrecy, and Mark and Dan didn’t know, they just knew the girls’ bets. But Pete kept tabs on the boys, and Tyler stalked into the kitchen, shoving open the doors and striding over to Pete. Pete, who turned to him with that bright, wide smile of his. He didn’t even get to open his mouth before Tyler was punching him, smack in the jaw, fingers stinging from the impact, stepping back and shaking out his fist, eyes narrowed to slits, chest heaving. Blood boiling.

Pete, to his credit, hardly moved back a step, just worked his jaw in a circle and nodded slowly, pink hair blurring in Tyler’s vision because Josh had had pink hair, and fuck, why had it taken him two days to figure it out? “So it’s like that?” Pete asked, raising his fists and one eyebrow.

“I’m not gonna hit you again, idiot, so stop acting like you’re Rocky or something,” Tyler said, voice tight, teeth set on edge. “You just had to meddle, didn’t you? Didn’t occur to you that I might actually like him, that I might actually want this to go somewhere? Oh, no, you just had to meddle, had to get in the middle of things. Make a huge messy stew.”

Pete shrugged. “I like the kid,” he said simply, turning back to the stove and whatever he had cooking for dinner. “He reminds me of Patrick, and a little bit of you when you first started coming here.” He pointed a spoon at Tyler. “I remember you when you were seven. All anxiety and nerves. Took you a couple weeks to get warmed up. This kid? Seems like he’s never gonna warm up, but he was warm with you. I thought he needed to know.”

Tyler huffed out a breath, fists loosening. “So, what, you did this for my own good? Ever occur to you that I was going to do this myself?”

“Who says you still can’t?” Pete asked, stirring the pot he was standing in front of. “Seems to me like he’s been ‘not’ lurking around you just as much as you’ve been trying not to lurk around him, so there’s something there, kid.”

“Stop calling me kid, I’m mad at you,” Tyler grumbled, and Pete just grinned.

Tyler headed out of the mess hall ten minutes later with a plan. He wasn’t the best with spoken words, but written words? Yeah, those he could do. 

\--------

There were fireworks that night, to celebrate the Fourth of July. It was only July second, but the kids got to go home for the actual Fourth, so they celebrated early. Tyler sat on the beach with his campers, listening to Keenan, Kyle, and Nick chatter on and on about the fireworks and how cool it was and hey could they sleep on the beach and have a bonfire and he chuckled and ruffled Keenan’s hair, telling him maybe, _maybe_ , if Jake was okay with it. He searched out pink hair, thinking it weird not looking for blue, but the pink caught the light in a more mesmerizing manner, and god, he thought, stomach clenching when he finally saw Josh, he was wearing eyeliner again, was he _trying_ to kill him. He kept eye contact until Josh looked over, and then jerked his head towards the woods, standing and walking away, the boom and crash of fireworks masking his disappearance. He patted his pocket, where the song he’d written earlier that day was, and exhaled, feeling suddenly anxious himself.

He only walked a short distance into the woods, then leaned against a tree, watching for Josh’s appearance. He saw him coming, long zebra-print tank top and pink hair and eyeliner lit up blue, gold, red by the lights in the sky, and Josh stopped several feet in front of him, arms crossed. 

“Yes?” his voice was tight, tense, and Tyler just wanted to pet at his hair, his arm, soothe open his arms until they hung loose at his sides and his breathing evened out. But instead he just dug in his pocket and tugged out the paper, creased from him folding and re-folding it, and after a moment, he thrust it at Josh.

“I’m not--I’m no good with words,” Tyler said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, and Josh cautiously took the paper, Tyler letting his arms fall, fists clenched. He watched Josh dig out his cellphone, use the flashlight to read the paper, and Tyler imagined him reading the words. Josh gasped audibly at one point, looking up, and Tyler caught the incredulous look in his eyes. 

“I don’t care what’s in your hair I just wanna know what’s on your mind,” Josh said slowly. “I used to say I wanna die before I’m old but because of you I might think twice…” His eyes met Tyler’s again, and Tyler opened and closed his mouth, rubbing his hands through his hair.

“I just---I really like you,” he said, voice desperate because Josh was still so far away and he wanted him closer, damn it, wanted him close enough to touch, to taste. “And yes, I bet that I would lose around the time of the camping trip because I thought I could make it a light, easy thing. A light, easy kiss or me moving in on you and it stopping before we really got it to go anywhere but then I got to know you, and fuck, Josh...I really like you. I _like_ you. And I didn’t even think about the bet on the camping trip, okay, I wasn’t even thinking about it, I was just thinking about _you_ because I’ve hardly been able to focus on anything else since you got here, and--”

Josh moved forwards, arms wrapping around Tyler tightly, and Tyler fisted one hand in his shirt and the other in his hair, repeating his name, feeling Josh kiss up along his jaw and then their mouths met and it was so sweet, the sweetest thing Tyler had ever experienced, Josh’s mouth moving underneath his, opening for him when he swept his tongue over his lower lip, licking gently behind his teeth until Josh was keening for him, and, panting, Tyler pulled back, staring into kohl-rimmed eyes, and they were silent for a long moment before Josh said, “I’d say you’re pretty good with words, Tyler Joseph.”

Tyler grinned. “Shut up, Joshua Dun.”

Josh just smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.


	16. Sex and Candy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Josh alone in a hotel room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have sinned. i am a sinner.

Tyler just stared at Josh, lain out beneath him on a hotel bed, cock flushed and curved up towards his belly, hands fisted together over his head where Tyler had put them and then told him to keep him. He’d caught Josh twining and untwining them a couple of times but so far he’d kept them there, kept them there the entire time Tyler was tonguing down his torso, biting at his nipples, playing his mouth over the trees on his arm. He had no idea how he’d gotten here, with Josh Dun, naked, in a hotel bed, but he was thanking every God he could think of that he had.

(Okay, he knew exactly how he’d gotten here: it was the annual weekend for the kids to go into civilization, and Tyler dropped how maybe he and a couple of the other counselors could take the kids this time, give Jake and Joanne the weekend off, how maybe he and Josh could take the older kids and Debby and Jenna could take the younger, and somehow the idea had worked. So the four of them had about sixty kids to look after each but they’d made it through the night, collapsing into tired heaps in the hallway outside the rooms they had before dragging themselves into their respective rooms. Tyler had had plans to seduce Josh, had been touching his arm all evening, had rested his hand on his leg, had played with the hair at the nape of his neck, but wasn’t sure Josh was going to be up for sex or even just fooling around (but please, god, please sex). But as soon as they’d gotten in the room, he’d found himself shoved against the door by one eyeliner-wearing Joshua Dun, his mouth assaulted, fingers at the hem of his t-shirt, and, well, one thing led to another and he’d pressed Josh on the mattress, held his hands above his head, told him to be quiet and to not move. Josh had melted into the mattress, mouth closing, eyes locked on Tyler’s.)

Josh stared up at Tyler now with such absolute trust it made Tyler’s breath catch in his throat and he had to wrap one hand around his own cock to keep from coming right then and there. The sight of Josh, silent, trusting, waiting for Tyler to do what he would, _letting_ Tyler do what he had wanted. Josh, pliant under his hands….

It was almost too much for Tyler to handle.

He ran one hand down Josh’s side, told him, “I’ll be right back. Stay still,” and moved to the bathroom, grabbing the lube and condoms he’d bought when they’d stopped at a drugstore earlier. He held them up so Josh could see them. “Say something if you want me to stop,” he said, realizing belatedly they should have safewords. Next time, he thought, settling between Josh’s legs and coating two fingers with lube. Please, let there be a next time. 

His eyes on Josh’s face, he traced one finger around Josh’s entrance, watching the way his eyes fluttered almost closed. “Keep your eyes open, baby,” he said, and Josh’s eyes snapped open again, locking on Tyler’s. He slid the finger in, Josh’s hips arching to meet his hand, and his mouth opened, then closed so fast Tyler heard his teeth clack together. “Good,” he said quietly, running his free hand on Josh’s thigh. “Good boy. You’re my good, good boy, doing what I ask you to do.” He slid another finger in, watched Josh fight to keep his eyes open, hips rolling into Tyler’s touch as Tyler scissored his fingers inside Josh and avoided that tiny bundle of nerves he knew would make him melt. Josh’s breathing grew heavier, exhaling loudly from his nose, and when Tyler looked up again his hands were clenched into fists so tight Tyler thought he might be cutting off circulation. Finally taking pity on him, Tyler brushed his fingers over Josh’s prostate, and he watched Josh’s throat visibly work against making noise. 

“You’re so good,” Tyler praised, running his fingers over and over Josh’s prostate. “You can make noise, baby. I want to hear you.” And then Josh’s voice was running over him, sharp bitten-off gasps and groans, mewling sounds in the back of his throat and Tyler was so focused on keeping the noises coming that he almost didn’t realize they’d turned into words.

“Tyler, Tyler, please. Please,” falling from Josh’s lips, voice wrecked and fingers plucking weakly at the sheets, eyeliner smudged from sweat and what Tyler thought were tears, and Tyler just smiled wickedly at Josh and leaned down, tracing his tongue around his fingers and Josh keened high in his throat, legs moving to bracket Tyler’s shoulders, panting.

“Shh, baby, shhh, I’ve got you,” Tyler said, removing his fingers and reveling in the disappointed noise Josh made, the way his hips chased Tyler’s fingers. “I’ve got you.” Keeping his eyes on Josh’s, he ran his hands up the other boy’s arms, massaging his fists until they unclenched, giving them both a minute to just breathe. “You can move these now, okay?” he said, and Josh nodded, lifting his head, asking without words for kisses, and Tyler obliged, all wet heat and tongues tangling together and teeth dragging over Josh’s lower lip and when they were both panting again, Tyler pulled back, running his hands down Josh’s torso and over his hips. Grabbing a condom, he slid one on, adding lube just in case because yeah, he’d done this before, but he wasn’t sure when the last time was for Josh, and he didn’t want it to be bad for him. 

Bracing himself on his arms, he smiled into the crook of Josh’s neck when he felt the other’s legs come up to bracket his hips. Lining up, he pushed in, groaning in tandem with Josh when he bottomed out, panting into the other’s mouth for a minute, barely-there kisses, just tongues meeting between their lips until Josh nodded against Tyler’s mouth and he began to move, shallow thrusts at first, but Josh kept moving his hips restlessly, so Tyler pulled back, raising one eyebrow. “Hold still,” he said, and Josh stilled. “Good boy.” 

Tyler pulled almost all the way out, then, hands bracketing Josh’s hips, slammed back in, causing Josh to groan, head thrown back, fingers scrabbling at Tyler’s arms more intensely than they had been before, and Tyler just grinned down at him, continued hitting that spot, watched Josh’s hand sneak down towards his cock before he stopped, looking at Tyler, plea in his eye. “I want to see you touch yourself,” Tyler said, breathing erratic, feeling heat pooling at the base of his spine. “Wanna see you come for me. Come on, baby, you gonna come for me?”

Josh wrapped one hand around his cock, eyelids fluttering closed before opening again, remembering Tyler’s earlier words, and he couldn’t focus on anything but the feeling of Tyler inside him, filling him up, cock brushing over his prostate, and his hand on his cock moved faster and faster and he felt Tyler’s movements become more erratic and then there was heat in his stomach, the base of his spine and he was coming, ropes over his stomach and up to his chin practically, shuddering underneath Tyler, who thrust, thrust, thrust, and stilled, fingers digging into Josh’s hipbones, Josh’s hand falling from his cock, breathing heavy.

Tyler collapsed on top of Josh, not caring about the mess between them, breathing into his ear, and he felt Josh’s hand come to play in his hair. “That hand better not have cum all over it,” he said, mumbling into Josh’s shoulder, and he felt Josh laugh underneath him. 

Lifting his head, he smiled down at the other, brushing hair off his forehead, kissing him slowly, lazily, without enough heat to really get them going again. 

“That was great,” Josh said softly, and Tyler kissed the tip of his nose. “No, I just….thank you for knowing what I need, somehow before I know I need it.” Tyler kissed him again, deeper, fingers tangling in Josh’s hair, and he couldn’t find words to convey the emotions he felt, so he was hoping the action would get at least some of it through.

It worked, apparently, because Josh just said, “yeah, me, too,” before shoving Tyler off of him and announcing they needed to shower in case little kids needed their help.

“Well, as long as I can shower WITH you,” Tyler said, leering at Josh, who rolled his eyes.

“You’re my boyfriend, Tyler, of course you can,” but he noticed Josh blushed at the word and avoided looking at him, and he felt a pit of glee build in his stomach. 

“I’m sorry, I’m your what now?” he asked, grabbing Josh around the waist and pressing him against the wall and kissing him soundly. 

“You’re my boyfriend, you big freak,” Josh said, laughing and shoving Tyler away from him. “Stop touching me, I’m disgusting.”

Tyler watched Josh walk into the bathroom, grinning hugely.


	17. Show the World to Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler sensed he was keeping secrets every time he would open his mouth during a more serious moment and then close it, but Tyler didn’t want to push him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of anxiety in this chapter and also mentions of what could be construed as past physical abuse. okay. also some fluff because i have to make up for the sinning.

July melted away (literally, Tyler thought, because jesus fucking _christ_ it was hotter than the hell he supposed he was eventually going to for the things he thought about Josh Dun’s ass on a daily basis), and before he knew it, it was August, and Tyler felt the first small twinges of panic as to what was going to happen once camp was over.

They continued their tradition of sneaking to the girls’ side on weekends, sitting around a bonfire and talking crap, only this time Josh would lean back against Tyler’s legs and Tay and Hayley would coo at them about how cute they were and Tyler would tug on Josh’s hair until his head tipped back and kiss him sweetly until Josh was looking up at him with absolute trust and something that scared Tyler, because it looked a little too close to what he was afraid was love. Love he was afraid that, maybe, he felt, or could feel.

Their campers continued to compete, and Josh’s were pulling ahead, something that irked Tyler to no end but also made him proud of his boyfriend. But it made his campers work twice as hard, and the night they pulled a Parent Trap and put all of Blue Jay’s furniture on top of their cabin was totally priceless, and worth it for the astounded look on Josh’s face as Blue Jay returned from swimming. Tyler had doubled over with laughter from the look until Josh had given chase, and he’d run after Tyler into the woods, leaving their campers laughing and wrestling behind them, and when they’d gone far enough Tyler had turned tail and chased _Josh_ , trapping him against a tree and kissing him breathless, hands tangled in his hair and legs hitched up around Tyler’s waist and jeans down and hands wrapped around each other and returning to camp sticky and messy and holding hands and Josh blushing when he glanced over at Tyler. And Tyler’s heart turned over in his chest and he thought, _well, fuck_.

He texted Jenna on a daily basis, asking for advice or generally freaking out, until the day he got a text from Debby that just said, _jishwa still has secrets. and he needs time to tell you._ Tyler knew Josh was guarded around him, could sense it still, even after the open-mouthed kisses, and hands resting on each other’s legs during meals, the hand holding when they walked somewhere, pinkies linked. Could sense it even as Josh whispered to him about Mark and Hayley, as they watched Debby and Jenna get closer and snickered about it. As they laid out on the roof of the counselor’s cabin, Josh’s head on Tyler’s shoulder, watching the meteor shower with their campers on their respective cabin-tops, the entire camp silent for nearly an hour, watching the show. As Josh’s hand traced letters Tyler couldn’t quite make out on his arm and Tyler traced Josh’s forest with his fingertips.

Tyler sensed he was keeping secrets every time he would open his mouth during a more serious moment and then close it, but Tyler didn’t want to push him. Didn’t want to but did want to, wanted to know everything he could know about the pink-haired, eyeliner-wearing, t-shirt dress wearing Josh Dun. (And the t-shirt dresses had been a new one, worn with jeans so tight Tyler swore they were painted on, but one Tyler had found, surprisingly, he liked, although he thought maybe it just had something to do with him liking Josh, but when he’d toyed when the hem and Josh had looked at him, apprehensive and defiant, daring him to say something, Tyler had just pressed their hips and lips together, and Josh had wound his arms around Tyler’s neck, kissed him until he couldn’t breathe, and muttered, “thank you”. And at the time Tyler wasn’t sure what he was thanking him for, but he could figure now it was the acceptance, and it made him angry that, at some point, someone _hadn’t_ accepted the perfect gift that was Josh Dun.)

He figured the secret had something to do with the anxiety, the occasional attack he would still get, or the milder onsets that had him tugging at his hair, rubbing his arm, fists clenched so tight Tyler could see his knuckles going white. He would tug Josh’s hair instead, rub the nape of his neck, soothe open his fingers and kiss the tips, watch him carefully to see him calm down. Interestingly enough, Tyler noticed the second panic attack happen on a day two boys from Goldfinch, Brendon’s cabin, get in a fight. The second a punch was thrown, Josh backed away, pupils huge, chest heaving, and Tyler had scrambled over to him in a second, hand in his hair and fingers on his forest.

It made him angry, that violence made Josh panic. It made him need to know who’d done something to Josh to make him get that panicked. It made him want to pry. But he knew better. It hurt, Josh not trusting him all the way, but there was something like love in his chest, and he was beginning to figure out Josh was someone to wait for, worth waiting for. Worth being with.

So July melted away, and at the beginning of August, the beginning of the last two weeks of camp, Blue Jay and Cardinal were tied for first place. Josh grinned at Tyler when the results were announced for that week, and Tyler stuck his tongue out, bumping Josh with his shoulder.

“Still a couple weeks for me to kick your cabin’s ass,” he said casually, and Josh snorted.

“For your cabin to get their asses handed to them, you mean,” he said, bumping Tyler back, eyes rimmed in kohl again, and Tyler leaned in and pressed a loud kiss to Josh’s lips, eliciting groans from the counselors around them.

“Keep telling yourself that, sugar,” he said, grinning and ignoring the small flutter of fear in his stomach when Jake announced the “last two weeks’ competitions are…” because that meant, unless he did something, he and Josh only had two weeks.

And _Grease_ was a great movie, but he was not having this be some “Summer Lovin’” memory that he had to preserve. He was just going to have to find a way to make sure Josh stuck around. Plus, he’d looked it up: Ohio State was only an hour from Xavier. 

Tyler was convinced they could make it work. Now, he thought, as Josh leaned his head on his shoulder, he just had to get Josh to trust him. Completely. This could only work with complete trust.


	18. I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He needed to tell Tyler. He couldn’t tell Tyler. He _had_ to tell Tyler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so short, guys. also, if something triggers you, please let me know and i will make an announcement in the notes and chapter itself, okay. like with josh's panic attacks and stuff, just let me know and i will put a warning up. thanks for sticking around thus far.

Josh stood on the beach and watched the lake, the waters in the dim twilight calming him. He ignored the phone buzzing in his pocket. Had been ignoring it for the past three hours, the past eight weeks, the past six months. He knew eventually he had to tell Tyler, had to tell _someone_ besides Debby, but for right now….for right now he couldn’t.

But he had to, and soon, because there was only a week of camp left. And he wasn’t sure what was going to happen once camp was over. His chest tightened at the thought, because he wasn’t sure what _Tyler_ intended to do once camp was over, and that...that was troubling.

He needed to tell Tyler. He couldn’t tell Tyler. He _had_ to tell Tyler. 

He scrubbed his hands over his face, growling slightly in frustration when his fingertips came away smudged with eyeliner. He wiped his fingers carefully under his eyes, hoping that would cure the problem. He had to tell Tyler, he thought again, ignoring the phone as it, once again, buzzed in his pocket. He had to tell Tyler because he was open, accepting, warm, pure light in Josh’s life. And Josh couldn’t afford to lose that.

He was considering tossing the phone in the lake and just forgetting about it when arms wrapped around his middle. He started slightly, but recognized the feel of them, the scent of the person behind them: pine, bonfire, sandalwood shampoo. He leaned his head back to rest on Tyler’s shoulder.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Tyler said, tilting his head to press a kiss to Josh’s temple, and Josh felt everything inside him do a slow roll into love. 

“Just wasn’t expecting company,” he said, realizing how similar those were to the first words they’d ever said to each other on this beach. He turned in Tyler’s arms, wrapping his arms around Tyler’s shoulders and pressing their mouths together, slick lips and tongues tangling and slow, slow, slow, hoping some of what he felt was conveyed. He couldn’t say it, not yet, but he could try to show it. He knew Tyler knew he was hiding something. He just...needed Tyler to be patient. For a couple more days.

He only had a couple more days.

Pulling back, Tyler blinked at him, eyes blurred, and Josh was pleased to see a mirror of emotion in his eyes as well, and Tyler tugged his hair gently. “We’re gonna be late for the bonfire,” was all he said, linking their fingers together, running his hand down Josh’s forest before doing so.

He tugged gently, and Josh followed, thinking he would follow Tyler to the ends of the earth if he asked him to.

Which was why he needed to tell him.


	19. You're Moving So Carefully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's nine days left, and Josh still hasn't said the things he needs to say.

Tyler cheered his campers on from his position in the bleachers, shouting encouragement almost as often as frustrations (because, _honestly_ , why would they anchor their tug-of-rope team with the lightest person in the cabin?! Clearly that wasn’t going to get them _anywhere_ ) and tugging at his too-long hair when things got heated, when their toes edged towards the line in the middle of the sand, and he covered his eyes with his hands, leaning dramatically against Mark. “I can’t watch,” he declared, only half kidding. “Tell me when it’s over, and oh god, Brendon’s getting loud again, that means _his_ kids are winning I am _not_ having second graders beat my kids, no way.” And he was up on his feet a second later, taking a breath to shout more encouragement, and Mark burst into laughter, peering up at him with amusement.

“Dude, you’re literally a soccer mom right now,” he said, flicking Tyler’s leg, and Tyler scowled at him and turned back to the beach.

“It’s _unfair_ ,” he said, gesturing at the two struggling teams. “One of Brendon’s kids is _bigger_ than one of mine! It’s ridiculous, he smuggled him in from another camp and is disguising him as an eight-year-old, he’s planning a coup, he’s--” Tyler stopped as a hand came from behind him to cover his mouth, the familiar shape of Josh pressing against him from behind, and he huffed and relaxed against his boyfriend.

Josh kissed his temple. “I think you’re going to burst a blood vessel, babe,” he said, sounding like he was trying not to laugh, and Tyler licked his palm in retaliation. Josh just hummed a little and shifted his hand to wipe it off on Tyler’s cheek. “Gross, but not the grossest thing that’s happened to me this week,” Josh said, swinging his legs over the bleachers to settle on Tyler’s other side, reaching over him to bump fists with Mark and sighing, tugging Tyler’s jeans. “Come on, Ty, sit down. They’re kids, it’s tug-of-war, they should have anchored with Tommy and Dwayne but put Frank at the end instead, they’ll figure it out.” Tyler huffed again but sat back down, legs bouncing as he watched the two cabins battle it out, heard Brendon shouting encouragement at his kids.

“It’s still unfair,” he said, sounding more amused than chagrined, turning to kiss Josh’s cheek like “I swear to god, those aren’t normal-sized eight-year-olds. Brendon’s clearly been having them work out or something.” Josh snorted and Mark rolled his eyes at the two of them.

“Tyler, you’re just upset because your campers might lose a _game_. Chill, they’re fine,” he said, then bit his cheek to keep from laughing when Tyler’s campers tumbled over the line as Brendon’s campers gave one final tug on the rope and Brendon leapt up, whooping and cheering and Tyler let out an almost anguished yell, collapsing onto Mark’s lap. “Okay, maybe they’re not _fine_ ” Mark finally managed through the laughter that had inevitably escaped.

Tyler blinked over at Josh, pouting when he saw that Josh, too, was practically doubled over with laughter, and declared “I hate both of you.” Pushing off Mark’s lap, he bounded down the bleachers towards his kids, who were all still lying dazed in the sand as though they couldn’t believe they’d just lost to a younger cabin. 

Josh watched him go, eyes soft and fond on his retreating form, then shifted a little when he felt eyes on him and glanced over at Mark. “Yes?” he asked, drawing out the word because Mark looked far too serious for the revelry that was happening around them, for the setting of last week of camp festivities, for anything that they were currently experiencing, and Josh felt the familiar slow burn of anxiety forming in his breastbone, made himself focus on taking deep breaths.

“He just. He really likes you,” Mark said after a moment, and Josh felt himself blush a little, looking down at fists clenched in his lap and made himself open his fingers, flexing them to get the stiffness out, and he nodded, flicking his eyes back to Mark.

“Yeah, I know. I really like him, too, for what’s it worth. I just wasn’t really expecting to, and things got...a little more serious than I planned. So I just have to figure some stuff out.” It wasn’t a total lie--he hadn’t expected the summer to go quite in this way, he thought, watching Tyler get tackled by Brendon’s campers and Brendon himself, wrestling in the sand and shrieking with laughter as he was pinned, looking like poor Gulliver trapped on the island. He hadn’t meant to fall in love with him, certainly, hadn’t meant to really open up as much as he had. Josh _definitely_ hadn’t meant for Tyler to figure certain things out about him that Josh himself hadn’t even really been aware of. Hadn’t counted on Tyler figuring out how to calm down the noise in Josh’s head, how to get him to breathe with a simple word or gesture. Hadn’t figured him on accepting him exactly as he was--even though Josh wasn’t sure what that was, yet.

He’d put the t-shirt dresses on on purpose, he admitted to himself now. He’d done it as a defiant move, had been terrified the entire time he’d walked towards Tyler on the beach that first night, had been a little worried what he was going to think about it, but had also done it as sort of a challenge--a statement, a _if you don’t like me like this then I guess you don’t like me for who I am_ type thing, but Tyler? Tyler had just tugged the hem and smiled that brilliant smile at him and told Josh he liked it. And he’d _meant_ it. Maybe practically daring Tyler to say something about it wasn’t the best way to go about it, but considering past experiences, Josh wasn’t willing to just hide that part of himself. Considering past experiences, he’d rather have done it that way than in a softer way. But Tyler had surprised him, and it hadn’t gone anything like past experiences.

Mark snapped his fingers and Josh startled, looking over at him and grinning sheepishly. “Sorry. I sort of spaced.” Mark looked amused.

“You did sort of space, yeah. And I get that there are things to figure out, but you’ve got nine days. And, I mean, there’s texting and email and Skype and things, but. Whatever it is you’re working out should probably be said face-to-face.” Josh nodded, bumping his fist against Mark’s when Mark offered his again, and then looked back at the beach at the next outburst of laughter and grinned as he saw Tyler hauling Brendon up over his shoulder and staggering towards the water, a tiny stampede of campers following and hollering, Brendon yelling behind him for Spencer to save him. Josh felt that familiar tug of love, the slow pooling of it, and smiled over at Mark.

“I’m going to tell him. I promise.” Mark nodded, and Josh pushed up, climbing down the bleachers towards the beach and stopping halfway down to laugh again, so hard his stomach hurt, when Tyler tossed Brendon in the lake and Spencer came from Tyler’s other side to scoop him up and dump _him_ in, causing mass hysteria among the kids on the beach, campers and counselors alike diving in after them.

It gave him, for one brief moment, a sense of complete peace, and he raised one hand in a wave when Tyler surfaced, shaking his head at the raised eyebrow and pointed look at the water, because no way was he getting in in his clothes. But Tyler waded out of the water, avoiding the chaos around him, and Josh grinned, heading down the rest of the bleachers and bracing himself for the moment Tyler hit the beach and started heading towards him. It was peace, yes, he thought, standing alert and watching Tyler watch him, smile playing around the corners of his mouth, peaceful knowing this moment would end in a chase and it would be gentle, wouldn’t be difficult or scary, would end in them laughing and pressing close and probably ganging up to get Mark into the water. 

This kind of chase he was okay with. His phone was in his bunk, turned off, another chase he was ignoring.

But as Tyler’s feet dug into the sand and Josh laughed, pushing off the other direction, he didn’t care. This was the only one he needed to focus on right now. And when Tyler’s wet arms wrapped around his waist and tugged him towards the water, Josh laughed and turned into them, and let himself be caught.

He landed in the water next to Dan, tugging Tyler in with him, and for a moment was able to forget the countdown in his head.


	20. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is from me to you guys.

Hey everyone.

This isn't part of the story, and when I finally post chapter 20 I might delete this and just re-update it, but I just wanted to give you all some info.

First of all, thank you thank you for sticking around as long as you have. I know this has been a really slow burn work in progress whatever, and I appreciate each and every one of you for still being here. This was my first big foray back into fanfiction, and it was received, for the most part, really really well, and I adore all of your comments and reactions. I love feeling like part of this community again, and I have you all to thank for that.

That being said, the main reason this fic sort of disappeared is twofold. 

First, I received some really, really mean and harsh things regarding one chapter on my tumblr and also in the comments of the fic. I deleted them because one of them actually started an argument with another reader, and that's not something I want. But it really shook my confidence, and made me really unsure of the direction I was going with this, so I sort of shoved it to the back of my mind and forgot about it.

Second, I ended up having some major health problems, and was in and out of hospitals for almost nine months--had two large and one minor surgical procedure, was in and out of various doctor's offices, and still, today, don't have an official diagnosis as to what is wrong with me/caused the problem that needed surgery.

I really miss writing, and I really miss interacting with all of you. And this story isn't over. But those comments, and the insinuations made via tumblr asks, really shook my confidence. I haven't even logged onto my tumblr in over a year as a result, and obviously updated this sparingly.

But I want to finish it, and I want to keep interacting with all of you, because I ADORE you guys. You're amazing and wonderful and encouraging, 99% of you. I just have to get over my mental block that's yelling at me to not post in case I get attacked again.

Anyways. It's holiday season and I finally have a job again, after months of being unemployed, and it's retail, so my hours are weird. I might update the second part of this more often (the "Boyfriends" series is part two of this work, and the chapters are more like little vignettes) until the holidays are over, before I get back to FINALLY finishing this one. It might be weird, since the vignettes in part two take place AFTER this, canonically, but c'mon--I'm a sucker for a happy ending, so this WILL end happily.

Anyways. Just wanted to let you guys know. Thanks for sticking with me, and for all of the support.

I'll be back on tumblr, and if you have ideas you want to see the Skeleboyfriends act out, or scenes you think would be cute, you can ask over there and I'll write them as little ficlets or maybe put them as full-fledged ideas in part two. I'm suewritesthings-blog.tumblr.com.

Happy holiday of whatever type you celebrate, everyone <3

\--Sue


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